Scan 6
Musical Courier 1913-05-28: Vol 66 Iss 22, 1913
69 lines. Read by computer on 25 September 2026. Printed page 9. 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.
1MUNICH
2Ungerstrasse 42/4.
3Munich, May 6, 1913.
5One of the straggling concerts given at the end of the season was that of Edouard Mörike, conductor, with the Konzertverein Orchestra. Mörike is, I understand, one of the conductors at the new Charlottenburg Opera in Berlin. He may perhaps be good as a conductor of opera, but as a concert conductor he only confirmed the poor impression which he made on his last appearance. He is not directly bad, but very ordinary, without any interesting features in his work to distinguish it from that of ten thousand other routine German conductors. The longest number on the program was a symphony by somebody named Schuchart, who is so important that his name is not even in the excellent "Tonkünstler Kalender," although it is almost impossible to avoid getting into this calendar if one has ever committed anything musical in Germany. Is it possible that this composer contributed toward the expenses of the concert?—the house was full of nothing but paper. Otherwise it is hard to imagine why the symphony and one other work of his formed more than half the program. The real feature of the concert was Vida Llewellyn's playing of the Tchaikowsky concerto. It was a capital performance, distinguished by a thorough knowledge of and feeling for the musical contents of the work and by a brilliant display of technic. The young artist really had the whole burden of the work to carry on her shoulders, for Mörike had very little idea of what it was all about. The slow movement was taken about half again too slow, the middle section of this movement marked "prestissimo"—though as a matter of fact it is almost impossible for the pianist to play it up to the indicated speed—was not more than a respectable allegro moderato. But the conductor made up for the delays in the second movement by taking the last at a pace almost impossible for the soloist, though Miss Llewellyn, by a truly remarkable display of virtuosity, kept up to it without faltering. These details are all mentioned merely for the sake of pointing out that this young lady must be a real musician as well as a piano player—there is a tremendous difference between the two—in order to have accomplished such a really fine result, handicapped as she was by the conductor.
7And speaking of this Tchaikowsky concerto, it is interesting to know what the second movement means, on the authority of Prof. Theodore Leschetizky, who had it from the lips of the composer himself. The slow theme, with its development, is supposed to convey to us the picture of a sleeping maiden, and the peculiar little prestissimo section, with its dainty, lively waltz theme, represents a dream into the mazes of which the waltz, heard at the ball the evening before, weaves itself. This for the benefit of the thousand and one coming young pianists who will be called on to interpret this work within the next few years.
9It will be interesting to the many American friends of Mrs. Ossip Gabrilowitsch (Clara Clemens) to learn that she returned to the concert platform again this past season, appearing in song programs in a number of the smaller German cities. As she did not sing in this city I did not have the pleasure of hearing her personally, but she has been so kind as to let me see a number of press criticisms. They are most interesting, especially those in which the critic was totally ignorant of Mrs. Gabrilowitsch's personality, and consequently was misled by the name. One speaks of her "Slavic temperament"; another refers to her as being a "Russian lady." However, all unite in praising her voice and singing, which is the principal thing. The Pfälzische Rundschau of Ludwigshafen says, for instance: "Clara Gabrilowitsch has a well trained alto voice of excellent quality and is very effective in her deeply felt interpretation of songs." Der Beobachter of Stuttgart says: "Clara Gabrilowitsch is an alto of such excellence that we have scarcely a single fault to find with her singing." The General Anzeiger of Mannheim: "She possesses real musical temperament and fantasy, so that her interpretations never fail thoroughly to interest." It is to be hoped that Mrs. Gabrilowitsch will be heard oftener in public next season.
11The critics over here very often make those mistakes in the nationality of an artist. Madame Charles Cahier (born Sarah Walker, of Indianapolis) is repeatedly referred to as a "French" artist, because her husband is a Norwegian with a French sounding name, and though Maude Fay (San Francisco) has been in this city for several years now, every once in a while one of the local critics refers to her as "die Engländerin."
13Alexander Petschnikoff, the capital Berlin violinist, who is also known in America, has accepted the offer of a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music here. Excellent! We shall welcome Petschnikoff with open arms! If only the management could be as lucky every time in choosing artists for the faculty of the Royal Academy there might be some hope for the long needed and awaited improvement there. Mrs. Petschnikoff, by the way, is an American.
15The Royal Opera has begun its spring Wagner cycle and will continue it, giving all the operas except the "Feen" and "Parsifal." Last week the dust was brushed off "Rienzi," which has been out of the regular repertory for years, and, though the ancient scenery was preserved, the musical end of the performance was freshened up by Bruno Walter with his usual thoroughly capable skill. Dr. von Bary sang the title role, which is the principal reason why your critic was not present at the performance. The local critics speak well of the performance. Maude Fay, who sang Irene for the first time, was up to the usual high standard of art to which she has long accustomed us.
17Gustav Brecher was chief conductor at the Hamburg Opera before Felix Weingartner took the post. Brecher is one of those conductors who believes in "personal" interpretations. Weingartner has just been preparing a revival of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at Hamburg and the current musical literature. It is pleasant to know that Mr. von Kunits is meeting with such success in his work as director of the string music department at the Canadian Conservatory of Music in the bustling Canadian city.
19Here is what a Strassburg critic wrote about Mozart's wonderful B minor Mass, anent a recent performance of it in that city: "Mozart's B minor Mass, a work in which the cheerful, worldly ground nature of the composer of 'Figaro' is always apparent; the remarkable short-breathedness of most of the movements, the bright character of the instrumentation, the whole melody (Melodik), often operatic in style, does not allow any opportunity for the establishment of a consecrated, religious feeling." Presumably this Strassburg gentleman knows just what kind of music is best suited to the Lord's taste. Personally I would give all the distilled "Wehe" in "Parsifal" for one movement of this music, even though, according to the Strassburg scribe, there is no "consecrated, religious feeling" in it. And then, it is very much to be doubted if the Almighty is really so uncatholic in His musical taste.
21H. O. OSGOOD.
23NOW BOOKING SEASON 1913-1914
25MELSA
26The Violin Player
28HUGO GÖRLITZ
29General Manager
30213 Regent St., London W.
31Cables, Hugonotas,
32London
34New York Representative, Louis Sherwin
3573 Dey St., New York, N. Y.
37score which he used was full of the cuts and "expression marks" of his predecessor, who now is engaged at Cologne. His artistic ire was righteously aroused by what he found there and, according to the Neue Hamburger Zeitung, this is what he wrote on the flyleaf of the score in red pencil: "The ridiculous and amateurish markings in this score are an insult (Verhunzung) to Mozart's masterwork and deserves to be publicly stigmatized and derided. (Signed) Felix Weingartner." Poor Gustav! But, as the editor of the Münchener Zeitung, in which I saw this matter reported, very justly remarks, what would the artist say if the critic were to handle him with the charming frankness of Weingartner's style?
39Hans von Bülow had, too, a very direct style of expressing himself. Here is a letter which he, twenty years old and studying with Wagner at the time in Zürich, wrote to the director of the Stadttheater there:
41SUITABLY VALUED SIR: You would do me a great favor if you would have the kindness to wind a stout bit of twine about your long neck; and if you would like to do still more for me, hang yourself by means of this cravat. In this way you would confer great happiness on Your thankful,
42HANS VON BÜLOW.
44It almost sounds as if the gentlemen had had a slight disagreement.
46Luigi von Kunits, whom I had the pleasure of knowing well when he was in Vienna, kindly sent me a copy of a booklet entitled "The Hero as Musician—Beethoven," being an address which he recently delivered in the First Unitarian Church, Toronto, at a Sunday evening service. It is finely written and a most interesting contribution to
48THE MUSICAL COURIER
50Here is what a Strassburg critic wrote about Mozart's wonderful B minor Mass, anent a recent performance of it in that city: "Mozart's B minor Mass, a work in which the cheerful, worldly ground nature of the composer of 'Figaro' is always apparent; the remarkable short-breathedness of most of the movements, the bright character of the instrumentation, the whole melody (Melodik), often operatic in style, does not allow any opportunity for the establishment of a consecrated, religious feeling." Presumably this Strassburg gentleman knows just what kind of music is best suited to the Lord's taste. Personally I would give all the distilled "Wehe" in "Parsifal" for one movement of this music, even though, according to the Strassburg scribe, there is no "consecrated, religious feeling" in it. And then, it is very much to be doubted if the Almighty is really so uncatholic in His musical taste.
52H. O. OSGOOD.
54DENVER MUSIC.
551516 Milwaukee Street,
56Denver, Col., May 16, 1913.
58There will be no lack of opportunity for the people of this city to hear orchestral music during the summer, for announcements have been made within the past few weeks that the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, under Horace Tureman, conductor, will give a series of ten concerts on Friday afternoon of each week at Elitch's Gardens, and that another orchestra has been formed to give a series of twelve concerts at Lakeside, also to take place on Friday afternoon of each week at the same hour. The first organization has just closed a very successful season of six symphony concerts at the Broadway Theater, and is the first permanent orchestra that Denver has ever had. The concerts have been of a high order, well attended, and have done much to raise the musical standard of the city. Mr. Tureman has been eminently successful as a conductor, and is well liked by his men, who will cooperate with him in making the concerts at the Gardens a success. Local soloists, with perhaps two or three foreign artists, will be heard with the orchestra during the season.
60The orchestra at Lakeside will be composed of about fifty or sixty men, thirty-five of whom will be local musicians; the others have been selected from the various symphony orchestras throughout the country, namely, the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Russian and New York Symphony Orchestras. The conductor will be Raffaelo Cavallo, who, until this year, has conducted the symphony concerts at Elitch's Gardens during the summer for many years past. Saslavsky, the well known New York violinist, has been engaged as concertmaster and soloist for the season. Nordica will be the soloist at the opening concert, the date of which is Friday evening, June 6. This is the only one of the series to be given in the evening. Other artists engaged as soloists are: Louis Persinger, Henri Scott, and possibly Madame Rider-Kelsey and Claude Cunningham. It is unfortunate that both organizations should have chosen the same day and hour for these concerts. However, it will be interesting to know whether two symphony orchestras can hold forth in Denver for twelve consecutive weeks during the summer months. If both win out, it would seem that there is no lack of appreciation of music here.
62Much interest was manifested in the appearance of Abe Greenfeld, the youthful violinist, whose home is in Denver, in a benefit recital at Unity Church on Sunday evening, April 27. Mr. Greenfeld has just returned from a period of study in Europe and New York, and the benefit was given to enable him to cross the ocean again in the fall to study with Leopold Auer. The young man shows wonderful talent, which, coupled with keen intelligence and ambition, seems sure to win for him a place among the best violinists of the day. He demonstrated in his playing of the Handel sonata in D major that he already has acquired some of the ease, finish and style of the virtuoso. He was assisted by Dr. John H. Gower, organist; Franklin Cleverly, accompanist, and Dolores Reedy-Maxwell, contralto.
64The last meeting for the year of the Harmony Club was held at the residence of Dr. and Mrs. J. E. Kinney on Monday evening, May 12, when an excellent musical program was given. Mrs. Kinney has recently been re-elected president of the National Federation of Music Clubs.
66Robert Slack will present Ysaye in recital at the Auditorium on Thursday evening, May 22. This is one of the most notable concerts of the season and is sure to be well attended.
68DOLORES REEDY-MAXWELL.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.