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Musical Courier 1925-12-17: Vol 91 Iss 25, 1925
36 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1OSCAR SAENGER AND HIS OPERA CLASS GIVE AN OPERATIC PERFORMANCE FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
3Oscar Saenger and his Opera Class, composed of young American Singers, gave an operatic performance, November 29, at the Technical School for Girls, corner 2nd Avenue and 15th Street, New York City. There was a capacity audience of two thousand, and over seven hundred were turned away. Mr. Saenger, who conducted the performance, had an excellent orchestra composed of selected men from the New York Philharmonic Society, and the scenery was especially painted by France & Company.
5The program opened with a splendid rendition of the overture, Merry Wives of Windsor, by Nicolai, followed by the first act of Madame Butterfly, with Amira Calderon as Cio-Cio-San; William Prevost, Pinkerton; Rebekah Crawford, Suzuki; George Segers, Sharpless, and Marshall Scott as Goro. Miss Calderon, it would seem, is just made for Butterfly; petite, almost child-like in stature, yet possessing a voice of lovely quality and adequate in volume. She acted the part with bewitching charm. Mr. Prevost's Pinkerton was well acted and he sang with authority; he has a superb tenor voice. Mr. Segers as Sharpless was the real American Consul—in action, simple and dignified, and vocally, excellent. Mr. Scott was a capable Goro. The chorus of Japanese maidens sang well, and Mr. Saenger employed the Reinhardtian method of having them enter the scene from the audience, producing a novel and interesting effect. The act went with remarkable precision and the singers were recalled many times.
7During the intermission, Sylvia Peterson sang the aria, Pace, Pace, Mio Dio, from La Forza del Destino, with orchestral accompaniment. Miss Peterson has a glorious soprano voice and sang with splendid dramatic effect.
9Then came the first act of Rigoletto, with Melva Moore as Gilda, Rebekah Crawford as Maddalena, Ottavio Valentini as The Duke, Norman Yanovsky as Rigoletto, and George Walker as Sparafucile. This act went in a really professional manner. Everyone in the cast was excellent. Miss Moore, with a voice crystalline and beautiful, sang Gilda in a splendid manner. Miss Crawford, a very attractive girl and the possessor of a real contralto voice, acted and sang Maddalena with spirit. The Duke, Mr. Valentini, was good to look at—a handsome youth with a voice which will carry him far with further study. His La Donna e Mobile was much applauded. Rigoletto was well sung and acted by Mr. Yanovsky, who has a beautiful baritone voice. Mr. Walker, as Sparafucile, was everything to be desired—he has a bass voice large and sonorous, and dramatically he was splendid. The quartet was enthusiastically applauded. The stage management was particularly good in this act.
11During the following intermission La Ferne Ellsworth sang Amour Viens Aider, from Samson and Delilah, by Saint-Saens, with orchestra accompaniment. Here is a real artist; she has a fine appearance, a mezzo-contralto voice of rare beauty, and she was recalled many times.
13The last act was Pagliacci, with Esther Klar as Nedda, William Prevost as Canio, Paul Farber as Tonio, Ottavio Valentini as Beppe, and Marshall Scott as Silvio, with chorus of villagers. The intermezzo was beautifully played. Then came the chorus of villagers, all members of the Opera Class, who sang lustily. The chorus not only sang well, but it was an acting chorus, every one of whom contributed to the success of the performance.
15Miss Klar was an excellent Nedda. Here is a girl who combines in herself all the qualities for success—beauty of person, beauty of voice, and real dramatic ability. She made a fine impression. The part of Canio was well conceived by Mr. Prevost; he was dramatically and vocally impressive. The Tonio of Mr. Farber was good vocally and histrionically and he sang and acted like an experienced artist. The Beppe, sung by Mr. Valentini, was adequate. The whole performance was a triumph for Mr. Saenger and his young artists. What an array of talent and what a splendid opportunity it was for these young singers to appear with all the professional equipment, scenery, costumes and a fine orchestra, with Martha Falk-Mayer at the piano and William J. Falk at the organ!
17The surprise of the evening was the conducting of Mr. Saenger. He handled the orchestra like a veteran, inspiring not only the singers but also the orchestra to a splendid artistic performance. This production was made possible through the generosity of Jesse Winburn, who offered it as a benefit to the Technical School.
19Gunster Delights San Angelo Audience
21A crystal enunciation that carried beautifully the power of Frederick Gunster's voice made his performance at the Lyric Theater, San Angelo, Tex, on November 3, one of the most delightful recitals it had ever been the privilege of a local audience to hear. Possessing a fine personality and the ability brought by long schooling to interpret his songs aptly, Mr. Gunster charmed his audience from the first classic opera numbers to the popular dialect and folksongs. The singer revealed power of voice, vocal fluency and flexibility and dramatic ability. Perfect control in low notes and ability to reach and hold the highest, distinguished his performance as the work of an artist.
23Klibansky Pupils Active
25Sergei Klibansky announces the following engagements and appearances of singers from his studio: Fanny Block and Mae Shackelford, at Grace Church Chapel, New York; Florence McDonogh, soloist at St. Luke's Church, Albany, N. Y.; Lottie Howell, soloist at the Metropolitan Theater, Boston, October 16, where Clarence Bloemker, another pupil, has been offered a contract, and he has been substituting at the Madison Avenue Baptist Church. Cyril Pitts has been engaged as soloist at Union Temple, Brooklyn, and he is also soloist at the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, Plainfield, N. J.; Edgar Cole is soloist at the same church. Virgil Posey has had successful appearances in Memphis, Tenn., and was heard at the Central High School, Lions' Club, Kiwanis Club, and will give a program at Houck's Music House; Mildred Strickland will give concerts in Memphis, Clarksdale and Jacksonville, Miss. Louise Smith has returned from a successful concert tour, having been heard in Spokane, Wash., Priest River, Coeur d'Alene, and St. Point, Idaho; Anne Elliott and Alvin Gillett were enjoyed at the Central Christian Church on September 30. Klibansky artist-pupils will be heard at a concert in Douglaston, L. I.
27Variety in Cincinnati Symphony Programs
29CINCINNATI, OHIO.—The sixth pair of concerts of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra was given on November 27 and 28. The performance began with a spirited rendition of Mozart's overture to The Magic Flute. Next came a suite, The Good-Humored Ladies. These are five pianoforte sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti arranged by Vincenzo Tommasini and orchestrated after the ballet Le donne di buon umore. (The Good-Humored Ladies). This is a one-act choreographic comedy, written for Diaghileff's Russian Ballet. The music has all the limpidity that one associates with Scarlatti. The instrumentation was modest and faithful to the spirit of the original. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to the works of Alfredo Casella, Italian apostle of the new gospel of polytonality. The first was a partita for piano and orchestra, written only this year. If it does, as the composer asserts, represent a "third style" in the development of his personal expression, then it is certainly not a return to the "classic." Only by an unpardonable leap of the imagination can all this be referred to the "purer classic forms," to quote Casella. The music is cacophonous in the extreme. The form vaguely follows some of the older purists, like Bach and Beethoven. But the very spirit of the music—if spirit there be behind this chaos, hovers over a radically different world. There was an occasional rift in the scudding—and colliding—clouds of harmony, a section where the trumpets and clarinets chanted a chorale against a mysterious rustling of the strings which seemed almost intelligible. But the mass of the work carried neither meaning nor beauty for your correspondent. It was all "sound and fury." The piano part, which Casella played himself, did not stand out from the warring orchestra. There was little or no opportunity for display.
31In delicious contrast with the Partita was the orchestral suite derived from the music to La Giara (The Jar), Casella's ballet written to a burlesque tale by Pirandello. It seemed impossible that only a year could have elapsed between the composition of this delightful work and the Partita. Here all was life and color and gaiety. The rhythms were intelligible; the orchestra was actually a unit, not a cage of a hundred shrieking parrots; there were charming and piquant dance tunes and shifting orchestral color. It is hard to understand why a man who can write such attractive music as that of La Giara should descend to the level of the Partita, or of the concerto for string quartet, which we heard soon after. At any rate, the audience enjoyed La Giara greatly and both audience and orchestra gave the composer a hearty welcome and abundant applause. Casella himself conducted La Giara.
33Warsaw Sees Premiere of Jotejko's Opera
35WARSAW.—The premiere of Tadeusz Jotejko's opera, Zygmunt August, has just taken place in the State Opera here. The story is based on a sixteenth century episode in Polish history. The music of M. Jotejko is well adapted to the theme, in turn dramatic and sentimental, the orchestration is remarkably fine and there is abundance and variety of melody. The tableaux such as the coronation, are pompous and solemn and the death of the queen a moving scene. The opera was conducted by Emil Mlynarski, whose work is too well known to need comment. The leading tenor role of Zygmunt August was sung by Stanislaw Gruszczynski, Barbara by Czapska, Bonna by Zboinska Ruszkowska, and the smaller parts were undertaken by gifted artists. The stage settings did honor to M. Poplawski.
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