Scan 4
Musical Courier 1925-12-17: Vol 91 Iss 25, 1925
75 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1SCHILLINGS DISMISSAL ROUSES UNANIMOUS PROTEST
3Kleiber and Klemperer, Unger and Fried Dispense Symphonic Fare—I. S. C. M. Active Again—Stravinsky Offers His Own Wares
5BERLIN.—A sensational occurrence is agitating the musical circles of Berlin. Max von Schillings, director of the National Opera, has been suddenly dismissed by the Prussian Ministry of Culture though his contract still has four years to run. This explosion is the outcome of a long campaign against Herr von Schillings. The entire Berlin press and musical public seem to side with the Intendant. It is impossible, within the compass of a short report, to go into the details of this complicated story. Schillings declares that he will defend his rights and will bring a law-suit against the minister. The entire opera-house, singers, orchestra, workmen and employees of all kinds unanimously declare their approval of Schillings' action and have resolved to assist the director in his combat with all the means at their disposal. Indignant articles against the minister and his two chief advisers in this scandalous affair, Prof. Kestenberg and Dr. Selig, have filled columns in nearly all the Berlin papers these last days of November. Paul Bekker, formerly musical critic of the Frankfurter Zeitung and at present opera director in Cassel, is said to be the government candidate. Schillings has already quit his post, and Franz Winter, director of the state theater administration, with the musical director Kleiber will carry on the management until the time comes when the case is definitely settled.
7The excitement of the press is so great that the minister thought it advisable to invite its representatives to a conference of two and a half hours, in order to explain in detail why Schillings must be dismissed. This conference, which the writer of these lines attended, was violent and agitated, but the minister's reasons for his action were unconvincing. Both the state parliament and supreme court will have their say in the matter.
9Otto Klemperer, on his way to Russia, stopped in Berlin for several days and gave us a performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony, which deserves to be called memorable. Hardly ever do I remember having heard this monumental score rendered so impressively. Klemperer's great art of conducting was especially evident in the manner with which he made this well-known masterpiece appear new and fresh, without, however, doing violence in the least to Beethoven's text. The secret of his mastery seems to lie in the fact that he limits himself to bringing out what is in the music of Beethoven and does not try to stamp his own personality on the work. The Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kittel Chorus and the solo quartet (Johanna Klemperer, Olga Eisner, Gunnar Graarud and Wilhelm Guttmann) went far beyond their ordinary capacities under the magic wand of this irresistible leader who is soon to be heard in New York City as guest conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra.
11FRIED LEADS THE BERLIOZ REQUIEM
13Among choral concerts, Siegfried Ochs' performance of Berlioz' Requiem, with its powerful tone painting of the last judgment, must be mentioned first. This score has not been heard for many years in Berlin. Another choral evening was the good, though not extraordinary performance of Bach's B minor mass by the Singakademie, conducted by Georg Schumann, with Lotte Leonard, Luda Mysz-Gmeiner, Paul Bauer, and Prof. von Raatz-Brockmann as soloists. By the way, the entire Singakademie chorus has just received and accepted an invitation to give a series of choral concerts in Italy in February and March, 1926.
15UNGER AND FRIED
17Dr. Heinz Unger continues the series of concerts given by the Society of the Friends of Music. Handel's Samson had been chosen for the second concert, in which Dr. Unger again gave evidence of his uncommon talents as a conductor.
19Oskar Fried's Sunday concerts are continuing successfully. His last program consisted of Mendelssohn's Italian symphony (coming into favor again after having been out of fashion for many years), a section of Ravel's orchestrally interesting music to Daphnis and Chloe and Moussorgsky and Mahler songs with orchestral accompaniment, sung by the famous Scandinavian bass, Helge Lindberg.
21I. S. C. M. REORGANIZES
23The German section of the I. S. C. M. has lately been reorganized. Wilhelm Furtwangler has been chosen president in place of Prof. Weismann, whose term had expired. A local Berlin chapter has been formed, and has entrusted the arrangement of concerts to a committee consisting of Philipp Jarnach, Max Butting and Hugo Leichtentritt. They selected for the second concert some piano compositions of Busoni; a new sonata for violin solo, op. 17, by Emil Bohnke; Bela Bartok's set of eight Hungarian folksongs, and the sonata for violin and piano, op. 2, of Kurt Thomas, the young Leipzig composer whose Mass had such an unqualified success at the Kiel festival last summer. Bohnke's sonata is highly interesting from the violinistic and musical point of view and a thoroughly original contribution to this genre. Thomas' sonata, written by a youth of nineteen, shows surprising skill and maturity, following the direction pointed by Reger, without losing itself in mere imitation. Bartok's folk songs are a real masterpiece, charming the ear by the expressive beauty of the genuine Hungarian melodies, as well as by the clever, picturesque and highly effective treatment of the piano accompaniments.
25STRAVINSKY OFFERS HIS WARES
27Igor Stravinsky has given a concert here which proved disappointing in several respects. Instead of offering his Berlin with Bruno Walter. The public was fascinated and the press is no less enthusiastic in praising her altogether exceptional faculties.
29Dr. Hugo Leichtentritt
31JEWELS OF THE MADONNA GIVEN FOR FIRST TIME AT THE METROPOLITAN
33Mme. Jeritza and Martelli Star in the Principal Roles—Danise, Telva, Bada Complete the Excellent Cast—Chorus Especially Fine and Scenery Magnificent
35Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (who, by the way, was christened plain Hermann Wolf), did not write Der Schmuck der Madonna (The Jewels of the Madonna), of his own volition. I give it the German title, for it was written at the insistence of an Austrian publisher and first produced—in German, of course—at Berlin, with the second production following only a few days later at Munich. This was in 1911. He had written several operas before this, light in character, charming in music, all well received, but none long-lived. So Josef Weinberger, Vienna publisher, who like publishers elsewhere judge the art value of any work by the amount of money it turns into the coffers, kept at Wolf-Ferrari until he consented to take a fling at the realistic. Being an experienced musician, with a flare for the stage—as he has proved in his other works—he did a thorough job. But he did not care for the result himself, and went back to his other manner at once.
37I Giojelli della Madonna (that's what they gave at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time last Saturday afternoon) has a vulgar, brutal story and a score that is never very distinguished; but both are always effective. There is something interesting going on on the stage all the time and the principal character, Malicella, is a crack role for a vocally and histrionically gifted prima donna. That is the reason the Metropolitan took the work up for the first time—to provide a new role for Mme. Jeritza. one of two readings
38I Giojelli della Madonna (that's what they gave at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time last Saturday afternoon) has a vulgar, brutal story and a score that is never very distinguished; but both are always effective. There is something interesting going on on the stage all the time and the principal character, Mahiella, is a crack role for a vocally and histrionically gifted prima donna. That is the reason the Metropolitan took the work up for the first time—to provide a new role for Mme. Jeritza. one of two readings
40The Jewels of the Madonna is disliked by Italians, who say it slanders the Neapolitans; it is not favored by the Catholic Church, since its plot hinges on the stealing of the jewels from the sanctuary of a church; hence it has been done only once in Italy, at Turin. Nor has it played a prominent part in repertories elsewhere. Probably the United States has seen as much of it as any other country. The Chicago Opera did it with Carolina White as Malicella; it has done it in recent years with Rosa Raisa in that same part, the short-lived Century Opera did it in English; even Milton Aborn did it at the Park Theater with sixteen men in the orchestra for a score that calls for three extra instruments in the woodwind alone. one of two readings
41The Jewels of the Madonna is disliked by Italians, who say it slanders the Neapolitans; it is not favored by the Catholic Church, since its plot hinges on the stealing of the jewels from the sanctuary of a church; hence it has been done only once in Italy, at Turin. Nor has it played a prominent part in repertories elsewhere. Probably the United States has seen as much of it as any other country. The Chicago Opera did it with Carolina White as Mahiella; it has done it in recent years with Rosa Raisa in that same part, the short-lived Century Opera did it in English; even Milton Aborn did it at the Park Theater with sixteen men in the orchestra for a score that calls for three extra instruments in the woodwind alone. one of two readings
43It was a pity that Wolf-Ferrari could not have been at the Metropolitan premiere of the work to see it, for without question as a production it exceeded any the opera has previously had. The scenery, by Antonio Rovescalli, of Milan, was the best set he has ever prepared for the Metropolitan. The first act had a convincingly true bit of the poor quarter of Naples and the second— evening in the courtyard of an old villa on the shores of the Bay of Naples—had real atmosphere. The stage management of the crowds, arranged by William von Wynter, provided at the close of the first act as fine a spectacle as I have ever seen on the operatic stage. The scene of the Camorristas in the third act was also well handled, although the stage was a bit over crowded for the best effect, something that often happens at the Metropolitan owing to the size of the chorus. one of two readings
44It was a pity that Wolf-Ferrari could not have been at the Metropolitan premiere of the work to see it, for without question as a production it exceeded any the opera has previously had. The scenery, by Antonio Rovescalli, of Milan, was the best set he has ever prepared for the Metropolitan. The first act had a convincingly true bit of the poor quarter of Naples and the second— evening in the courtyard of an old villa on the shores of the Bay of Naples—had real atmosphere. The stage management of the crowds, arranged by William von Wyntel, provided at the close of the first act as fine a spectacle as I have ever seen on the operatic stage. The scene of the Camorristi in the third act was also well handled, although the stage was a bit over crowded for the best effect, something that often happens at the Metropolitan owing to the size of the chorus. one of two readings
46Now for the cast. Maria Jeritza, even with a very dark red wig, suggested nothing Italian in appearance. There was nothing Latin in her face, her figure or her movements. But she did suggest the character of the wayward, impulsive, passionate, willfully bad Malicella. She sang the dramatic music—melodramatic, it often is—superbly. She acted with tremendous intensity and spirit. In the face of a partner, Danise, who walked through the part as if he were afraid he would get his clothes dirty, she rose to great dramatic heights in the scene at the gate in the second act. In a word, one of two readings
47Now for the cast. Maria Jeritza, even with a very dark red wig, suggested nothing Italian in appearance. There was nothing Latin in her face, her figure or her movements. But she did suggest the character of the wayward, impulsive, passionate, willfully bad Mahiella. She sang the dramatic music—melodramatic, it often is—superbly. She acted with tremendous intensity and spirit. In the face of a partner, Danise, who walked through the part as if he were afraid he would get his clothes dirty, she rose to great dramatic heights in the scene at the gate in the second act. In a word, one of two readings
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50(no line here) one of two readings
52MME. CHARLES CAHIER, one of two readings
54the distinguished international contralto, returning from Europe in October after a summer devoted in part to concert work and to operatic appearances in the leading European houses, resumed her work as a member of the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and immediately began a busy concert season. The most notable feature of this is the series of four brilliant recitals which she is giving at Aeolian Hall, New York. In all of these she is introducing interesting novelties and composers not hitherto known to American audiences. The second recital of the series will be given on Saturday evening of this week, December 19. one of two readings
56ERICA MORINI RECITAL one of two readings
58Erica Morini's violin recital was an entire success and confirmed the impression made at her first appearance in new works of importance, he appeared to be acting as a traveling salesman or agent for his old compositions, rehashed in various kinds of arrangements which from an artistic standpoint seemed entirely superfluous. Stravinsky himself played the piano, assisted by Alma Moodie and Giovanni Bagarotti, violinists, Adolf Mützelburg clarinet and a very bad singer, Rita Kitten. one of two readings
60ERICA MORINI RECITAL one of two readings
62Erica Morini's violin recital was an entire success and confirmed the impression made at her first appearance in new works of importance, he appeared to be acting as a traveling salesman or agent for his old compositions, rehashed in various kinds of arrangements which from an artistic standpoint seemed entirely superfluous. Stravinsky himself played the piano, assisted by Alma Moodie and Giovanni Bagarotti, violinists, Adolf Mützelburg clarinet and a very bad singer, Rita Kitten. one of two readings
64FRANCHETTI'S NAMIKO-SAN HAS PREMIERE AT CHICAGO CIVIC OPERA
66Tamaki Miura, Internationally Popular Nipponese Soprano, Scores in Title Role—Balance of Cast Excellent
68The world premiere of the new Aldo Franchetti Opera, Namiko-San, on Friday evening, December 11, was the outstanding feature of the sixth week of the Chicago Civic Opera season. Namiko-San, the first of the novelties by American composers to be given this season by the Chicago Civic Opera, was sung in English. Namiko-San, a musical tragedy in one act, is drawn from an ancient Japanese tragedy, translated in English by Leo Durand, a French-American writer, who spent ten years of his life in Japan, but the libretto, as well as the music, is from the pen of Aldo Franchetti, who was born in Italy but is by naturalization an American citizen.
70STORY OF THE OPERA
72The original play is titled The Daymio, which means a Warrior Chief. In his adaptation for lyric drama, Mr. Franchetti changed the gruesome conclusion into a more pathetic and poetical one. The Daymio, famous for his ineptitude, has determined to destroy all the petty thieves
74(Continued on page 20)
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