Scan 9
Musical Courier 1913-11-12: Vol 67 Iss 20, 1913
34 lines. Read by computer on 25 September 2026. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1VIENNA OPENS ITS NEW CONCERT HALL.
3Konzerthaus Inaugural a Brilliant Event, with Aged Emperor Present—Strauss' "Festival Prelude" Has First Hearing—Weingartner's Fiftieth Birthday to Be Celebrated—Puccini's "Girl" Has Vienna Premiere.
5Vienna, October 25, 1913.
7Our new Konzerthaus is open. On Sunday last, October 19, at 11 a.m., His Majesty, the Emperor, performed the ceremony of laying the last stone in the great concert hall in the presence of a brilliant and representative assembly, and attended the inaugural concert in the evening. Followed three other concerts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, and I despair of doing justice to the subject in the time and space at my disposal.
9The wave of emotion—that sobbing uplift in the breast that comes to us all in moments of exaltation—which swept through the great hall when the aged Emperor entered, defies description. I have mentioned that the concert hall holds 2,030 odd persons, in addition to the huge amphitheatral platform for 800 singers and 120 musicians, backed by an organ of eighty registers—the biggest in the world. On Sunday morning, however, not only the great hall, with its glittering assembly of the elect, but also the grand stairway was crowded to the uttermost by a double row that stretched far away to the main entrance. Eleven o'clock struck. From the stairway came a roar of cheering, then silence. The audience rose to its feet, all eyes turned to the door, and there, punctual to the minute, stood the Emperor. He stopped for an instant, dazzled and not a little moved, as well he might be, for in the midst of the dead silence Ferdinand Löwe raised his baton, and up rose the glorious challenge of the Austrian national anthem, a fruit of Haydn's genius. First came the choir, but then, at the second strophe the organ and orchestra assisted with cataclysmal force, and finally the audience joined in with an imposing sea of sound.
11The Emperor congratulated the conductor, Ferdinand Löwe, and praised the fine singing of his choir. "Your Majesty," answered the leader, "they sang well because they sang from their hearts." His Majesty also congratulated Dr. Botstiber, the general secretary of the Konzerthaus, on his splendid organization and the success of the undertaking. He received this reply: "Sire, it was my life's work."
13No less impressive and moving was the first inaugural concert, Sunday evening, October 19. It was indeed a happy thought to enlist the services of music's foremost living orator, Richard Strauss, and his work, the much discussed and eagerly awaited "Festival Prelude," if not entirely appropriate to the occasion or to the sound capacity of the hall, served at least as an imposing heraldic entry. The key of C major is a powerful weapon in itself, but in the hands of such a master of orchestration it proved absolutely dynamic. It was a fury of sound, thunderous, deafening. To mix metaphors, and really one's impressions were in a whirl, I can vaguely recall the sight of Löwe's wand darting and stabbing like the stings of an angry wasp—each stab produced a shriek—and the backs of the violinists swinging together in unison like those of a trained racing crew. Local critics profess to find in the E major continuation of the theme, an echo of Weber's jubilant soul, and a general confirmation of Strauss' latter day tendency toward melody in preference to polyphony. The prelude is symphonic in structure, gorgeous in tonal effect, and mighty, all too mighty, in sound. Some one said: "A generalissimo's glittering full dress uniform without the general." I endorse nothing of that sort, and find in fact that there is musical thought in the work—a shade pompous, perhaps, but real thought. Again, in extenuation of defects that may later be forthcoming (or more apparent) it should not be forgotten how thankless a task it is to compose to order and that the composer had to be entreated repeatedly before he would undertake to do so.
15After the "Prelude" followed by special wish a Bach number—I have forgotten which—and then Beethoven's ninth symphony. Ferdinand Löwe is one of the most sympathetic Beethoven conductors I have ever heard. I never shall forget those evenings: the huge choir and orchestra literally hanging on his every movement and leaping in response to his subtlest call. It was a sight to see his lips unconsciously framing the words of the soloists and choir and it gave one a thrill to witness the ovation he received at the close of each concert, when choir and orchestra vied with the audience to do him honor. Leo Slezak and the other soloists—I appended the program last week—did splendid work, the tenor winning a deserved individual ovation for his finished vocal art and exceptional musicianship.
17At the fourth and last of the inaugural concerts, the program was this:
18Te Deum ………………………………………Anton Bruckner
19Mass in E flat major for soloists, choir, orchestra and organ. ………………………………………Franz Schubert
20Rhapsody for alto voice, mail choir and orchestra. ………………………………………Johannes Brahms
21Overture to Meistersinger ………………………..Richard Wagner
23A rare feat, surely. The first two numbers sounded a note of religious consecration that pervaded the whole evening, and which even Wagner's ecstatic outburst of wonderful optimism could not quite dispel. The second number was peculiarly interesting as an instance of a work of outstanding merit by a master whose strength lies elsewhere, for no one will dispute that Schubert's genius, in common with that of—to quote a parallel instance, Mozart—reaches its height in secular music. The mass in E flat major is Schubert's swan song, as he outlived its production by only a few months. But for a marked weakness in the obligatory fugue in the "Sanctus" and a certain conventionality, a flatness in the treatment of the most thankless part of the liturgy, the "Credo," it is a composition of rare workmanship and inward beauty. Adrienne von Kraus-Osborne was heard to advantage in the third item on the program. Her phrasing was admirable and her tone full and round. Then came the whirlwind, Wagner's glowing prelude, and Herr Löwe fully deserved the storm of applause that broke out at the finish. He is to be congratulated heartily, as well as the splendid orchestra, soloists, and choir.
25The third festival concert, which was given on Tuesday evening in the Kleiner Saal, was repeated on Thursday evening in order that those persons previously disappointed might have an opportunity of hearing Johannes Messchaert's exquisite voice in his lieder interpretations.
27The current week included concerts by Julia Culp and Bronislaw Hubermann, both of which were unqualified successes, to houses in which every seat was sold.
29I forgot to mention last week that Sunday, the 26th, is Felix Weingartner's fiftieth birthday. This will be celebrated with a jubilee performance of some Weingartner compositions in the great concert hall of the Musikvereins-haus, conducted by Weingartner himself with the collaboration of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
31Puccini's opera, "The Girl of the Golden West," was performed for the first time in Vienna on Friday evening, October 24, at the Royal Opera. Puccini was present. His score reveals nothing new and nothing to surprise. He is the same old Puccini, infinitely more of a dramatist than a musician. The musical thought is wanting, and however well he may say a thing, the thought itself—the thing worth saying—is indispensable. True to the composer's predilection for broad effects and vivid treatment of a coarse canvas, the plot chosen is something between a cinematograph film and melodrama of the most undiluted persuasion. We have the familiar mining camp of the "Roaring Forties," gold fever, poker and sudden death. Minnie, the heroine, saves her robber lover, Dick Johnson, first from the sheriff, by winning a memorable game of poker, and then from the noose of Judge Lynch when all seems hopeless, and so forth. Special mention must be made of the fine singing of Alfred Piccaver as Dick Johnson. Herr Piccaver can act as well as sing, and he has learned not only to feel, but also to convey his emotion across the footlights.
33Miss Trumbull's gifted pupil, Alexander Brailowsky, will appear at his own concert on November 9, an event
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.