Scan 7
Musical Courier 1911-03-22: Vol 62 Iss 12, 1911
47 lines. Read by computer on 25 September 2026. Printed page 8. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1LONDON
2HAREWOOD HOUSE, HANOVER SQUARE, W.,
3LONDON, England, March 11, 1911.
5Berlioz's "Faust" was produced by the London Symphony Orchestra and the chorus of the Hanley Glee and Madrigal Society, under Dr. Hans Richter, at the eighth regular symphony concert of the season in Queen's Hall in March. The soloists were Pauline Donalda, as Margherita; Walter Hyde, as Faust; Robert Burnett, as Mephistopheles, and David Brazell, as Brander. The work was excellently produced, the singing of the choir, which had been trained by the regular choirmaster, John James, was all that could be desired in discipline, familiarity with the score and for the most part in quality of tone, though, as in all English mixed choral bodies, the male voices exceeded in tonal quality and style of delivery; the female voices also lacking in precision of attack and in dramatic feeling. However, it was a notable performance and one long to be remembered for the sympathetic reading bestowed upon the work by Dr. Richter. The difficult soprano music was sung with much finish of technic by Madame Donalda, the timbre of whose voice suits the character of the music so well. As Faust Mr. Hyde sang with much good taste. His interpretation of the exacting part was delivered with intensity and tenderness of expression, and his voice was well sustained in the frequent demand on the higher notes.
7The ninth concert of the London Symphony Orchestra, March 20, will mark the last appearance of these concerts of Dr. Richter prior to his retirement from the concert platform. The program on this occasion will be:
8Overture, Meistersinger ………………………………………….. Wagner
9Symphony ……………………………………………………….. Haydn
10Poem, With the Wild Geese ……………………………………… Hamilton Harty
11(Conducted by the composer.)
12Violin Concerto …………………………………………………. Brahms
13Symphony in F, No. 8 ………………………………………….. Beethoven
14The soloist will be Bronislaw Hubermann.
16"We traveled 40,000 miles this last tour," said Mme. Liza Lehmann to the London representative of The Musical Courier on a recent interviewing day.
18"My impressions of American musical conditions?
19"Well, we were most impressively made aware of the tremendous influence of the women's musical clubs. And how well they manage everything! I assure you that the concerts we gave under the management of the local clubs were arranged in every detail to perfection. Nothing could better prove the American woman's executive ability than the great number of flourishing musical clubs so admirably managed. And the excellent programs they give! It was all a revelation. Yes, this was my second season, but this year I made a more extensive acquaintance with the country and some of its musical conditions. We traveled from coast to coast, and away down to Florida and up over the borderline of Canada. In Florida we marveled at the extreme tropical climate. Here we found huge palm trees, coconuts and monkeys galore, and rattlesnakes and swarms of black people.
21"No, the appreciation for music was not on quite the same level as farther North.
23"What a beautiful country California is! The luxuriance of its climate, the hospitality of its people and the beauty of its women! And here we had 'a day off,' in Fresno, and I had my picture taken under one of the beautiful palms, and I composed a new song, too, that day. The inspiration of the climate and surroundings gave me the idea for the 'Silver Rose,' and I am just now bringing it out.
25"Did I find 'In a Persian Garden' well known? Oh, yes. I was requested to give it on every program. We gave it at every concert, either programmed or by request. We gave variety to our programs by also giving the 'Four Cautionary Tales,' the 'Breton Folk Songs' and other numbers. Even in the smaller towns away from the big centers we always found the same desire for high-class programs and an unfailing understanding and appreciation. It was all marvelous, in what it meant for the future. All the programs of all the women's clubs seem to maintain the same high standards.
27"So many features of American life interested us all. But I was especially interested in the prairies of the United States, in their vast and majestic loneliness, and in the Indian reservations, and the tragedy of the Indians' extermination. Civilization came too soon for them, they were too young a people to meet its demands. It is all very sad and melancholy and one may see in their tragic faces their sense of sorrow and loss. Especially noticeable is it in the faces of the Indian women, who come down to the trains to sell bead and basket work of all kinds.
29"I wrote a little Indian song while out there in the prairies, not that I used any original Indian themes like your talented Charles Wakefield Cadman, whom I met at a lecture he gave here in London last year and where I heard some of those quaint and charming melodies he has collected and so beautifully harmonized. In my Indian song I have written both the theme and the words. I tried to catch some of the sentiment of the Indian and his prairie home and I trust soon to have it brought out.
31"And I saw the premiere of 'The Girl of the Golden West.' Oh, yes, I liked it very much. I must say I am an admirer of all Puccini's compositions, though there may not be the same wealth of melody in this last opera that one finds in his earlier works. But it should have been sung in English. Even if another 'whiskey and soda' barbarism had to occur it would still be more fit than the Italianism of English names and American phrases of life, which all sounded so comical in the Italian tongue.
33"My opinion of other contemporary composers?
34"There are several very talented composers among the younger ones! No, I won't mention names, but there is an impetus that is as yet not quite fully realized by the general public, but it is gathering force, and English musical history is being made quietly but surely by these younger and thoughtful writers.
36"I was sorry not to have heard more music while in America. But we were 'concertizing' every night and mostly every afternoon and between times just lived in the train, which is such a woeful waste of time.
38"When we arrived in New York City we again were made acquainted with the activity and power of the musical club. What a brilliant woman Mrs. Chapman is! We had a wonderful reception with the Rubinstein Club. And to my dear friend, Victor Harris, conductor of the St. Cecelia Club, I have dedicated a new vocal intermezzo for female voices, entitled 'In Sherwood Forest.' The words are by Basil Hood, and the poem opens with 'The Hour before Dawn when the fairies of Oberon's Court dance in the dim starlight.'
40"New compositions of mine? I shall have some other new things, besides those I have mentioned, a little later, but I am not quite ready, or rather they are not quite ready yet.
42"No, I would not care to make another American tour. It is too strenuous. Only the wonderfully tonic climate enabled me to go through with this last year. I am so glad I had the opportunity of knowing the country so well; it is a glorious country, and I may go back again, but not to tour."
44Edward Gay Hill, a young American vocalist, will make his London debut at the first of four fortnightly concerts to be given by the London Glee Club under Arthur Fagge, conductor in Queen's Small Hall, March 1. Mr. Hill will sing several songs.
46John Dunn, the English violinist, will play the Elgar concerto and the Tschaikowsky concerto with the New
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