Books › Musical Courier 1926-03-11: Vol 92 Iss 10, 1926 › scan 43
Scan 43
Musical Courier 1926-03-11: Vol 92 Iss 10, 1926
68 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 44. See the scan on archive.org.
1ORIENTATION
2(Continued from page 25)
3Creative, Pedagogy and Recreational, only again to walk the broad path of musical attainment, for after all, through the medium of our various phases of expression, we exist to express life at its best. It matters not which path we choose; social contacts broaden our comprehension of life, and produce understanding teachers, inspired creators of music, and sympathetic interpreters. Real beauty of tone and interpretation come from what a poet has called "divine forgetfulness," that is, forgetfulness of things pertaining to self—self-consciousness which would forever bar the doors to the real feeling which underlies artistic success. The submission of the ego to the promotion of the pleasure and welfare of others is demanded by musical discipline; not a repression, but simply a modification of self expression, of sublimation.
5In living one's life in group effort, one becomes a vital part of the wonderful organism which reaches out to an artistic and energetic height never attained in selfish soli-
6tude.
8William Penn said: "I expect to pass through this life but once. If there is any kindness, or any good thing I can do for my fellow beings let me do it now. I shall pass this way but once."
10Selfishness—the consideration of self alone—breeds a consciousness of self, a self-consciousness which robs the artist of the ability to give to the world a message, because there always stands that wall of Self between the real artist and the listeners.
12Social contacts bring the student into an understanding of the needs, desires and secret longings of his potential audiences—all mankind. Companionships of the right sort are unique opportunities for inspiration. Longfellow, after a day with Emerson, literally emitted poems and plays. He was stimulated by this friendship, and likewise Emerson was uplifted by his contact with Longfellow. There is also another angle to this question, our duty to our fellow man. We are all parts of the whole—spokes in the social wheel, so to speak. Without the least of these parts social expression is imperfect. Each of us is endowed with some contribution toward the betterment of the world, and it is not for us to bury our talent. Each day, each hour, we must give liberally of ourselves, even a smile (forced though it may be) will run its path until somewhere it bursts into a laugh. Life, after all, is service and accomplishment—nothing more, nothing less. With minds bent on giving our best to others, and in reaching the predestined goal, all petty thought of self is lost. Serve through radiating love, cheerfulness, and sympathetic understanding of the problems of your fellow traveler. Directly you will be astounded to realize that your playing or singing is reaching the heart depths of others, and best of all that you are coming into the joy of successful accomplishment.
14So many have said: "It is so hard to make real friends in Chicago." So it does seem, without careful consideration. For the first step, follow the suggestion offered last week by Mrs. Llewellyn. Immediately upon arriving in the city attend the church to which you have been accustomed. Seek out the pastor, tell him that you are in the city to study music, and in attending church would like to make your friends under its protection. At once you will be introduced to someone who will see that you meet the young people of the church. Attend services regularly. Attend as many of the social functions as possible. Play, or sing, every time you are asked. This will give to you an enviable poise gained only through constant appearances before audiences. Do your best work, always, regardless of whether the listeners seem disinterested or unimformed. Remember that you are having an opportunity for practice, and that there will be some one present who will understand and appreciate.
16As a word of suggestion, when in groups which seem to be unmusical, tell them the story or legend of the composition you are to play, or sing, or tell them a bit, some little human bit, regarding the composer's life. You will find that the response will be one hundred per cent. Nine out of ten individuals lack developed imagination. It is for you to stir and bring into activity this quality. When you can make the picture clear through your explanatory preface, and your playing, you are well on the road to artistry. To follow the thread of your first church contact, let us see what will happen.
18You will meet charming young people, and discover that they are very much like the friends at home. You are invited to the respective homes; you play, or sing, here and there. You are invited to attend some choice lectures and concerts and plays, and before you are aware your social life in Chicago is strangely similar to that just left, together with opportunities for bigger, broader contacts. You have made a place for yourself in Chicago. In studying the layout of this great city you will notice that it is a series of communities, and that life is community life. You, in finding your place in the community, have formed a big contact with the real Chicago. This, with your music studies and the many opportunities offered by the Sherwood Music School for both musical and social development, will not only keep you from loneliness (which, after all, is but a form of selfishness—self thought), but will send you back to Russ- one of two readings
19ville a highly poised, and a better individual. one of two readings
20You will meet charming young people, and discover that they are very much like the friends at home. You are invited to the respective homes; you play, or sing, here and there. You are invited to attend some choice lectures and concerts and plays, and before you are aware your social life in Chicago is strangely similar to that just left, together with opportunities for bigger, broader contacts. You have made a place for yourself in Chicago. In studying the layout of this great city you will notice that it is a series of communities, and that life is community life. You, in finding your place in the community, have formed a big contact with the real Chicago. This, with your music studies and the many opportunities offered by the Sherwood Music School for both musical and social development, will not only keep you from loneliness (which, after all, is but a form of selfishness—self thought), but will send you back to Russville a highly poised, and a better individual. one of two readings
22As I said in beginning this lecture, it is in accord with the policies and upward tendencies of this school that it realize the important phase of social development to such an extent that it has given it a place on the educational program. Let us briefly summarize the importance of this side of individual development.
241. Man was not created a solitary creature, aloof from all else—but to live in groups. He was meant to mingle with his fellow kind. There is no social group, be it city, town or institution, which can exist without the cooperation of the individual.
262. Your gifts and talents were not given you to hide, nor for the purpose of accumulating gold; rather, to play your part in the great drama of life. We must all learn well our individual lines, then step on the stage and blend those lines into a well balanced whole.
283. In giving of ourselves, and of our talents, we find that in giving we receive. Greater artistry is the inevitable result, together with a beautiful forgetfulness of self.
304. And, best of all, you will discover that through the development and the sharing of your musical ability, you have become well rounded, well balanced men and women. That your artistry reflects the radiance of the joy which has been created in your self. Joy is the natural result of the regular course of life itself; it is a consequence of living well. In fact, joy is always an evidence of a right attitude toward the world, and is a sure sight of moral health and progress.
32In closing, I ask you to mingle freely with your fellowmen, and to give, give—give of your divine talent, to cultivate love, together with intelligence and proficiency, that you who are truly messengers from the Court of Music, be you music makers or music teachers, may be true apostles of joy and beauty.
34DO YOU BELIEVE IN SIGNS AND FIGURES
35"YES" say Mme. Spravka and M. Oumiroff
37Those two delightful artists, Ella Spravka, pianist of Bush Conservatory and Boza Oumiroff, noted baritone, whose Chicago concert was given on February 28, confessed over the teacups an amusing collection of hobbies.
39Numerology, or rather, a right combination of numbers, has long been Mme. Spravka's secret superstition or belief, she would call it, while M. Oumiroff's pet hobby is an outrageous defiance of popular understanding of luck from numbers since his prize possession is a tiny medal with the figures thirteen in scrollwork, which the Baroness Rothschild gave him at Monte Carlo two years ago to wear as a watch charm. And he wears it, too, and every day!
41Ten, it seems, is Mme. Spravka's lucky number and more by chance than by choice, she finds that most of her important dates and other activities have to do with that number. Thus—though she insists it was accident and not design—the year of her marriage to M. Oumiroff was 1919. "Two tens, you see and double luck" she says. The date of her London debut again happened on the lucky number. She chooses street cars with a calculating eye. And so it runs through her life, one of the golden threads of Fortune which have favored this charming woman.
43"That number thirteen, however, highly intrigues me for it happened to be my pet abhorrence." So. Mme. Spravka's genial husband assures us gleefully that Friday the 13th has always been his lucky day; that his concerts in Paris and elsewhere falling on that day were special successes. That any venture he starts on the 13th ("unfortunately rare," he remarks aside) he takes either one or the other, and so on. We set down our tea cups, lest an outraged jinx bring disaster, hoping against hope that M. Oumiroff was trying to tease us. But, no, he is serious. The trinket has always brought him good fortune, he says, and he mentions his exceptionally happy and successful life in both Europe and America. So we must be convinced.
45One recent Friday, surely, brought him good fortune with the arrival of five great vans of furniture, pictures, bronzes, books and music, all from M. Oumiroff's chateau near Paris, which he has recently disposed of. Many rare and beautiful pieces of furniture, some with interesting bits of history attached—such as the piano of Ludwig, the mad King of Bavaria—two grand pianos, not even out of tune from their ocean voyage, fine rugs—all their Lares and Penates have followed these two artists to Chicago, where they now make their home. And they are indeed happy. "It is like having all one's oldest and best friends around you after a separation," said the baritone.
47As we talk, our eye lights on a copy of the program Mme. Spravka is giving the end of this month, with M. Oumiroff's assistance, and notice that the figures twenty-eight stand out conspicuously. "Two and eight," thought we casually. "That is another ten, isn't it? This must be a time when Mme. Spravka consulted the numerologists." And we turned to her with the question. "No," she smiled. "It was the only date there was left in Kimball Hall when I decided to give the concert. What could I do?" with a shrug of her petite shoulders. "But," she confessed, "it does make me happy, for ten is my lucky number and I feel sure we shall have a good audience." R. D.
49NEW YORK CONCERTS
50(according to the program notes) by Ottorino Respighi, born at Bologna in 1879, and was first produced at La Scala, Milan, April 27, 1923, under the direction of Antonio Guarnieri. Its story, adapted by Gastalla from an old fable, tells of the devil coming to earth to try his hand at matrimony. The composer tells this story by means of three flutes (one piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contra bassoons; four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba; kettledrums, bass drum, small drum, cymbals, triangle, gong; xylophone, bells, celesta, harp; and strings. A glance at the foregoing would convince the reader of a truly colorful and unique performance. It was an interesting number and the audience liked Mr. Klemperer's reading of it, to judge by the amount of applause following its conclusion.
52The program opened with an impressive reading of the Egmont overture, Beethoven, and concluded with an equally skillful reading of the beautiful Tod und Verklärung, Strauss.
54Gisella Neu
55Gisella Neu, a young girl, formerly a pupil of Jeno Hubay, gave a violin recital in Aeolian Hall, March 7. Beginning with the Tchaikowsky concerto, she next played two movements from the Fifth Bach Sonata for violin alone, then the group of shorter pieces, and finally the Hungarian Melodies of Ernst. Miss Neu, though still only nineteen years old, is long out of the prodigy class. She played the Tchaikowsky concerto with real feeling for its music content and an impressive mastery of its technical difficulties. The tone was round and full and its quality showed to particular advantage in the Canzonetta. In the Bach she displayed excellent musicianship. From the group of small pieces the Mignon Gavotte in the Sarasate arrangement, and the Albeniz Tango both stood out. The Hungarian Melodies she played with fire and dash, and proved herself quite equal to the demands for virtuosity which they impose. All in all Miss Neu impressed her audience as a violin talent of high order already far advanced, and capable, with further development, of becoming a notable artist.
57The accompaniments of Nicolai Mednikoff were not always what they might have been.
59James Wolfe in Demand
60For the past two months, James Wolfe's musical activities have been many and varied. The young basso of the Metropolitan is in demand for concert and private appearances and invariably scores success. Besides singing at the Metropolitan Opera House and giving his own splendid recital in Aeolian Hall, Mr. Wolfe has averaged two or three appearances in New York during each week of the season. Among his outstanding successes was an appearance at Carnegie Hall, singing The King of the Sea in Sadko with the Schola Cantorum. Mr. Wolfe had the leading bass part in a series of three operas given under the direction of Paul Eisler, of the Metropolitan Opera, at Liederkranz Hall, and here, as also at his appearance as soloist with the Rubinstein Club, he achieved an ovation. Mr. Wolfe and Miss Sabanieva were soloists at a dinner at the Astor when the musical program was given under the supervision of Andres De Segurola. Mr. Wolfe proved a great favorite when he appeared at the Belasco Theater as the only singing artist included in the Green Room Club Revel. He has also appeared at a number of testimonial dinners, notably those in honor of Manny Strauss and Nathan Jonas. At the last two, as well as at the Brooklyn Federation dinner and the reception of the Boy Scouts, Troop 12, Mr. Wolfe, in addition to his solos, opened the evening with his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, for which he promises to be as famous ere long as he now is for his dramatic and tragic singing of The Song of the Volga Boatmen. one of two readings
61For the past two months, James Wolfe's musical activities have been many and varied. The young basso of the Metropolitan is in demand for concert and private appearances and invariably scores success. Besides singing at the Metropolitan Opera House and giving his own splendid recital in Aeolian Hall, Mr. Wolfe has averaged two or three appearances in New York during each week of the season. Among his outstanding successes was an appearance at Carnegie Hall, singing The King of the Sea in Sadko with the Schola Cantorum. Mr. Wolfe had the leading bass part in a series of three operas given under the direction of Paul Eisler, of the Metropolitan Opera, at Liederkranz Hall, and here, as also at his appearance as soloist with the Rubinstein Club, he achieved an ovation. Mr. Wolfe and Miss Sabanieva were soloists at a dinner at the Astor when the musical program was given under the supervision of Andres De Segurola. Mr. Wolfe proved a great favorite when he appeared at the Belasco Theater as the only singing artist included in the Green Room Club Revel. He has also appeared at a number of testimonial dinners, notably those in honor of Manny Straus and Nathan Jonas. At the last two, as well as at the Brooklyn Federation dinner and the reception of the Boy Scouts, Troop 12, Mr. Wolfe, in addition to his solos, opened the evening with his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, for which he promises to be as famous ere long as he now is for his dramatic and tragic singing of The Song of the Volga Boatmen. one of two readings
63Fitziu as Elsa
64Anna Fitziu, soprano, has been engaged to sing the part of Elsa in Lohengrin at the Auditorium in Washington, D. C., March 22, with the National Opera Association.
66Belle Silverman Resumes Teaching
67Belle Fisch Silverman, Newark vocal teacher, has recuperated from her recent illness and has resumed teaching in Newark and New York.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.