Books › Musical Courier 1913-12-10: Vol 67 Iss 24, 1913 › scan 57
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Musical Courier 1913-12-10: Vol 67 Iss 24, 1913
125 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1ALBERTO BACHMANN A VERSATILE VIOLINIST.
2This Virtuoso's Literary Ability Matches His Fine Musicianship.
4Alberto Bachmann is a versatile violinist, and not alone a virtuoso of ample gifts, but also a composer and author of international repute.
6Since his arrival in this country but two months ago, Mr. Bachmann has traveled considerably and devoted much time to his literary and musical duties.
8Mr. Bachmann's concert work, however, has not been neglected. He already has been heard on numerous occasions and bookings are being made rapidly for the remainder of the season.
10On November 30, at the Princess Theater in Montreal, Canada, Mr. Bachmann scored one of the most brilliant successes thus far credited to him in this country. In another part of this issue of the MUSICAL COURIER will be found an interesting press criticism commenting upon his success on this occasion.
12Mr. Bachmann is a Frenchman in every sense of the word, although his parents were Russian. He was born in Geneva in 1875 and at the age of ten years won the first prize at Lille, France, for violin playing. He has studied with Ysaye, Thomson, Hubay and Petri and makes his home in Paris.
14The success of Bachmann's numerous compositions—several hundred have been published—has won for this artist an international reputation. His books, too, are well known and widely read. A letter written by Jan Kubelik, which speaks for itself, is reproduced herewith, and is but one example of the esteem in which fellow artists hold this violinist:
16Dear Mr. Bachmann:
17I have just received some of your compositions and books on the violin and violinists, which I find very interesting. I must thank you most heartily for sending me those, and I hope to play your "Magyariana" as soon as time permits me to study same.
19With kindest regards, very sincerely yours,
20JAN KUBELIK.
22One of Mr. Bachmann's best known volumes is "Great Violinists of the Past"; this book, it is said, cost $4,000 to publish. He is at the present time busy on a new book, "How to Play the Violin," which he expects to publish in the near future.
24Montreal Press Praises Bachmann.
26Alberto Bachmann, the French violinist, played before an enthusiastic audience at the Princess Theater, Montreal, Canada, on November 30 last, when he appeared with the J. J. Shea Orchestra in the Sunday Concerts, Limited. His success is well described in the following criticism from the Montreal Daily Star of December 1, which follows:
28The soloist was Alberto Bachmann, one of those vitally human violinists whose appeal extends far and wide. His is that generous type of playing which embraces all things, both great and small. In this respect he reminds one of Ysaye, resembling that master also in the sweeping dignity and wealth of his tone. Such a noble sentiment as he voiced in the adagio from Spohr's ninth concerto we are not often privileged to hear. Mr. Bachmann approached the Saint-Saëns concerto with respectful intimacy, singing through the slow movement with genuine fondness for it and molding every phrase carefully. Technically, he does not measure as high as others who have played here, but a musician is invariably to be preferred to a technician.
30His last number, barring an encore, was an arrangement of his own of more or less familiar Hungarian melodies. It is difficult to explain the peculiar thrill which this Magyar music engenders. One sees through it not an individual, but a people. Perhaps it is because the Magyar music we know has been added to and complemented until many persons are represented in it. In any case, the suggestion of a race, entirely separate from any other, is there. And to listen to Mr. Bachmann's "Magyariana" as it poured out of his violin was to be transplanted to other lands and scenes. (Advertisement.)
32Fritz Kreisler's Second Recital.
34Fritz Kreisler will give his second recital in Carnegie Hall, New York, next Saturday afternoon, December 13. His program will contain some works of modern composers, including the Mendelssohn concerto. There will also be one number by Bach for violin alone. The program in its entirety is as follows:
36Sonata in D major………………………………………Handel
37Adagio and fugue in G minor for violin alone………….Bach
38Concerto for violin in E minor, op. 64…………………Mendelssohn
39Sarabande……………………………………………..Sulzer
40Menuetto……………………………………………..Pugnani
41Scherzo……………………………………………….Dittersdorf
42La Precieuse…………………………………………Couperin
43Fugue………………………………………………….Tartini one of two readings
44Fugue………………………………………………..Tartini one of two readings
45Lied ohne Worte………………………………………Mendelssohn-Kreisler
46Canzonetta Indienne…………………………………Dvorák
47Tambourin Chinois…………………………………..Kreisler
49J. Fred Wolle's Organ Recital.
51Below is quoted a reference to the playing of the well known Bethlehem (Pa.) organist, J. Fred Wolle, which was taken from the Quakertown (Pa.) Free Press, of November 14:
53To commemorate the four hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther, an organ recital was given in St. John's Lutheran Church on Tuesday evening by Prof. J. Fred Wolle, Mus.D., of Bethlehem, the celebrated conductor of the Bach Chorus, assisted by Lawrence W. Ackermann, baritone.
55The organ consisted of Lutheran chorales, used as the basis of a number of the most familiar compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, whose mastermind produced music in its highest conception. No one, except perhaps an experienced organist, had hardly an idea of how much melody could be drawn from the instrument until he heard Professor Wolle's remarkable performance. Mr. Ackermann has a pleasing baritone voice, and his singing was enjoyed as much as the organ playing. It was an evening of pleasure for the large audience, which filled the auditorium and balcony, not pleasure in the ordinarily accepted sense of the term, but something infinitely higher and ennobling—a spiritual uplift. (Advertisement.)
57KATHARINE GOODSON'S NEW YORK RECITAL.
58Pianist Plays Unfamiliar Brahms Sonata and a Varied Program at Aeolian Hall.
60Katharine Goodson must surely have come to the conclusion that Brahms' F minor sonata is not particularly popular with the New York public, for the amount of enthusiasm which her fine performance roused would have been as great had she elected to play Czerny's "Fingerfertigkeit." The Brahms sonata is, of course, a profounder work than anything produced by the indefatigable Czerny. It has power, breadth, plenty of rhythmical variety, and is a masterpiece of construction. But there must be something lacking in a well written sonata for the piano which has been fifty years in print without becoming known even to the select music lovers who frequent piano recitals. Katharine Goodson gave an admirable account of it and it certainly was not her fault that her audience refused to be moved.
62The loud, long, and genuine applause which followed her performance of Chopin's F minor fantaisie was enough to convince her that as a player of Chopin she can sway the public at will. The G flat etude had to be repeated. In fact it was evident that her listeners would gladly have heard her play a great deal more of the works of Chopin. The Schumann numbers, too, were interpreted with sympathy and real poetry.
64Miss Goodson ended with a dashing, yet poetic and captivating performance of the lovely waltz from Tchaikowsky's "Casse Noisette" suite for orchestra transcribed for the piano by the English pianist, Percy Grainger.
66Below will be found the complete program of the Goodson recital in Aeolian Hall, New York, Wednesday afternoon, December 3:
68Kinderscenen…………………………………………Schumann
69Sonata in F minor……………………………………Brahms
70Berceuse……………………………………………….Chopin
71Fantaisie in F minor………………………………….Chopin
72Two Etudes, F and G flat……………………………Chopin
73Valse in A flat…………………………………………Chopin
74Romance in F sharp………………………………….Schumann one of two readings
75Romance in F sharp…………………………………Schumann one of two readings
76Aeolus………………………………………………….Gersheim
77Valse des Fleurs………………………………………Tchaikowsky
79Charles Frederick Naegele's Recital.
81Genevieve Bisbee presented her pupil, Charles Frederick Naegele, in a piano recital held in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, New York, last Thursday afternoon, December 4. Mr. Naegele's playing delighted the large audience of musicians and music lovers who filled the hall, and his work was at once a credit and a just tribute to Miss Bisbee's thoroughness and earnestness as a teacher.
83The young man shows a clean, accurate technic truly refreshing, and deserved praise for his good pedalling. This last—the bane of many promising pianists—was particularly noticeable in the Bach-Tausig fugue; in the intricate contrapuntal passages the different melodies emerged through the mass of ornament, sharp and individual.
85The most successful and pleasing number was a group of five Chopin etudes. Mr. Naegele's crisp, elastic touch and excellent pedalling enabled him to render these charming fragments with a skill worthy of a finished master pianist.
87The program follows:
89Toccata and fugue, D minor………………………….Bach-Tausig
90Gavotte……………………………………………….Gluck-Brahms
91Pastorale……………………………………………..Scarlatti
92Sonata, op. 27, No. 2……………………………….Beethoven
93Five etudes……………………………………………Chopin
94Op. 10, No. 5.
95Op. 10, No. 3.
96Op. 25, No. 3.
97Op. 25, No. 8.
98Op. 10, No. 8.
99Nocturne, D flat major……………………………..Chopin
100Prelude, op. 28, No. 19…………………………….Chopin one of two readings
101Prelude, op. 28, No. 19…………………………..Chopin one of two readings
102Ballade, G minor……………………………………Chopin
103Hark, Hark, the Lark……………………………….Schubert-Liszt
104Prelude, G minor……………………………………Rachmaninoff
105La Campanella………………………………………Paganini-Liszt
106Waltz, op. 34………………………………………..Moszkowski one of two readings
107Waltz, op. 34……………………………………….Moszkowski one of two readings
108Rhapsody No. 12……………………………………Liszt
110Inez Barbour Wins Praise.
112Inez Barbour, the New York soprano, is engaged for the spring tour of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is engaged also for a joint recital with Evan Williams at Granville (N. Y.), and to sing in "The Messiah" at Troy (N. Y.) December 19.
114Miss Barbour sang in Washington, D. C., recently concerning which the Washington Post wrote as follows:
116Miss Barbour's voice is a beautiful, warm, well trained soprano, flexible and rich with dramatic possibilities. The program afforded great scope for dramatic, rhythmic and melodic shadings and cadences, to which opportunities Miss Barbour rose in every instance. Even the English and German of Bishop, Handel and Beethoven, and the "L'Amour de Moi" were given distinct "atmosphere," although songs of rather an impersonal nature. The modern French were given with all the dainty, delicate and elusive coloring of their school. For pure loveliness of sustained cantabile, Weingartner's "Du bist ein Kind" was perfect. Miss Barbour is, without reservation, an artist, and yesterday charmed everyone, not only with her adequate voice and artistic interpretations, but by her personality as well.
118Other press notices concerning the work of this busy artist are also herewith given:
120Miss Barbour won instant favor in her two songs. Her fresh, brilliant and very flexible voice was shown to advantage in La Forge's "Come Unto These Yellow Sands,' a fine contrast to the melancholy Russian song, which was most artistically sung. Miss Barbour impresses her hearers by the general artistic excellence of her singing.—Providence (R. I.) Journal.
122Miss Barbour has a soprano voice of delightful quality, fine range, and has it under such admirable control that her numbers were exceedingly telling. Her first song was delivered with a wealth of expression and purity of tone that made it most effective, while her second number, so different in character, displayed to immense advantage the flexibility and charm of her voice in lighter moods.—Portland (Me.) Eastern Argus.
124Miss Barbour immediately won hundreds of admirers. Her voice is beautiful in quality and the songs were given with artistic finish.—Worcester (Mass.) Evening Post. (Advertisement.)
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