Books › Musical Courier 1926-07-08: Vol 93 Iss 2, 1926 › scan 11
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Musical Courier 1926-07-08: Vol 93 Iss 2, 1926
143 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1WILLIAM S. BRADY TELLS OF THE ADVANTAGES OF EUROPE
3"You are altogether too lucky, Mr. Brady. Altogether too lucky! Going abroad to spend the summer while the rest of us stay home and slave. You millionaire singing teachers have entirely too easy a time of it."
5Mr. Brady laughed. "Well," he said, "come on, go with me. But you'll have to work if you do. That's what I'm going for—work!"
7"Work?" said I, skeptically, not knowing whether I was being spoofed or not. "Work?" What kind of work? Checking baggage and buying railroad tickets?"
9"No—really!" said Mr. Brady, "I am going over to work. I have to, you know."
11"Have to?" said I, still more doubtful—for I well know what a success Mr. Brady makes of his winter's teaching, and it would be impossible to believe that he would "have to" work summers, in the ordinary sense of the word.
13"Really, I have to," said Mr. Brady, becoming serious. "It's a moral obligation."
15I laughed again—morals! But I was puzzled just the same, and showed it. Mr. Brady explained: "A moral obligation—no teacher has a right to leave his pupils to their own resources after they have left his studio."
17"You mean that the teacher should aid them in getting a start in life?"
19"That, too. But I was not thinking of that. I was thinking of the purely educational side."
21"But if the pupil ever graduates?"
23"Does the pupil ever graduate? Of course pupils arrive at a point of proficiency where they may step out of the studio and take up a public career, but that is no assurance that they will not need further guidance. Who is there in life that does not need a friendly word now and then? Does a suit that comes home from the tailor always fit? You may not see that it needs refitting, but some of your friends will, and it would only be kindness on their part to tell you so."
25"I see what you mean. But what has that to do with your trip to Europe?"
27"Why, I have a lot of pupils holding important positions in Europe, and some of them have written to me asking my advice about things." "You mean about their voice?"
29"Yes, their voice. They say they have some problems, some difficulties to overcome, and they want me to help them. They say, since I have got them so far and have prepared them for the big successes they have won, they would rather continue with me than take the advice of anybody else. And how can I advise without being on the spot?"
31"Where are those pupils of yours? You say Europe, but Europe is big."
33"In Germany and Italy."
35"Then you are going to Germany or Italy?"
37"I'm going straight to Munich. But, of course I don't want you to get the impression that any of these singers are unfinished. They would not be where they are if they were not thoroughly efficient artists."
39"But—eh—excuse me for seeming so ignorant—but who are they and where are they? Would I know any of them by name?"
41"Of course you would—at least, you would if you are interested in opera. You certainly know Marcella Craft?"
43"Know her? Of course I do. I know her very well indeed. She has been such an important figure in Munich opera that her reputation has spread all over the world. Is she there now?"
45"She has been doing guest performances in all parts of Germany. You know there are really good opera companies even in the smaller cities in Germany. It is very different from any other country in Europe."
47"And how different from our terrible American condition! Here we have just two cities with permanent opera companies!"
49"Yes. Germany offers a real career for singers of ability. Naturally they must be singers of ability, singers who know how to sing. If they give satisfaction they advance, get good salaries and many roles. I had one pupil singing at a German opera house who thought she was not getting enough out of it. She went to the manager and told him she was not getting roles enough. She said she was not getting the routine and training she thought she ought to have. After that they gave her enough work to keep her constantly busy. You know, the repertory in Germany runs up into forty or fifty operas."
51"But is the German training a good recommendation for return to America? I mean, when singers from Germany want to get into the Metropolitan Opera or the Chicago Company isn't the Italian repertory and training an asset? Those houses are so strictly Italian, and there is so little German opera—almost none outside of Wagner."
53"But the repertory in Germany is not altogether German. They sing more operas over there than we do here—operas from every school, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, all the schools, just as we do here."
55"But the singers?"
57"The singers? The greatest singers, at least the greatest women singers of recent years had their training in Germany. When you think of names whom do you think of? Sembrich, Lilli Lehmann, Gerster, Nilsson."
59"There was Patti."
61"Yes, but many of the great names, perhaps most of them, are associated with German training even when their great roles were Italian."
63"Yet in Germany they sing their roles in German."
65"Of course, in German. No country except America has opera habitually in foreign languages. But the words of the role are quickly relearned if there is any need for it. A singer sings just as well in German as in Italian, and no better in Italian than in German."
67"But you were mentioning your pupils. You mentioned Marcella Craft."
69"Yes, Marcella . . . and then there is—let me see—Leona Kruse, at the Munich Opera; Robert Ringling and Lawrence Wolff, both of them also at the Munich opera; Eyvind Laholm, at the Wiesbaden Opera, where Klemperer is the conductor; Sybil Richardson, at the Essen opera."
71"You seem to have them all over Germany!" I exclaimed, interrupting him.
73"So I have. Yes. And in Italy and here, too."
75"Oh, in Italy, too!"
77"Of course. In Italy I have two pupils at present, Cristina Valli and Herbert Sargent. And then here at home there is Kathryn Meisle of the Chicago Company, Carolina Lazzari, Robert Steel, Dorothy Jardon, John Steel, all of them with operatic successes to their credit. Herbert Sargent has just made his debut at Pallanza as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. He made a big success and got favorable press reports."
79"It is interesting to know that you have had so many pupils who have become prominent. It must be very gratifying to you. It seems that most of them have had European experience."
81"Yes, and let me tell you that the time is coming when people in America are going to begin asking questions about what is to become of pupils who spend a lot of money learning to sing here and then have no market for what they have to sell except, perhaps, a few concerts or oratories or a choir position."
83"The old American question: Must all musicians be merely teachers?"
85"Well, I hope you haven't anything against 'merely teachers' as you call them!"
87"No," I said, laughing, "but you know what I mean."
89"Yes, I know what you mean, and it really is the old American question. The singer gets a thorough education, and then what? The concert field is limited, it is very difficult and expensive to get a start, and in opera in America there is almost nothing. It means going abroad . . . Just think how much good some of these millionaire foundations could do by starting opera companies for American singers! But their one idea seems to be education and more education, turning out musicians who are destined to become teachers, who will turn out more musicians also destined to become teachers, ad infinitum—a vicious circle!"
91"And so those who really have talent—the singers, I mean—go abroad to get opera jobs, and hope, no doubt, to come back here as leading members of one of our two big companies?"
93"Not always. Some of them do so well abroad that they seem perfectly satisfied to remain. And why not? An operatic career in Europe may be quite as attractive as an operatic career in America. After all, the thing that makes for happiness in art is to be doing successfully what one wants to do. Isn't that so?"
95"It surely is," I agreed.
97"Well, these American artists in the European opera houses are doing what they want to do under the most pleasant circumstances. They are taking leading roles in really great art productions, and doing it for the benefit of audiences made up of really great art lovers. The fashion and the glamour of the New York and Chicago opera seasons may be absent, but what does all that amount to? Nothing! An annoyance for the artists, if anything. What the artist wants is sympathetic appreciation of good work by people who know. They find that in Germany. Do they find it here?"
99"And it is a great incentive to good work," continued Mr. Brady. "It is a great thing to realize that sensation will not count for anything. The art must be right. Nothing else counts at all in Germany."
101"Isn't it rather surprising that the Germans will accept American singers?"
103"No. Not surprising. There is not much chauvinism in Germany. Even immediately after the war there was very little prejudice, and that is dying down. Germans love art too much to harbor prejudices which would keep them from enjoying it."
105"Yes, but why Americans?"
107"Why, simply because Americans have such splendid voices and such fine intelligence. As operatic talents they are second to none. Not all of them realize the necessity of proper education, but that is coming. What they need, let me say it again, is opportunity here at home. Big people are naturally drawn towards professions where there is big opportunity."
109"Do you think it will come?"
111"Of course, it will come! It is merely a matter of time."
113WILLIAM S. BRADY,
114noted voice teacher, who has just left for Munich, where he will spend the summer assisting his artist-pupils, all of whom hold prominent positions in German opera houses. (Schloss photo.)
116"And meantime?"
118"Meantime talent is going on as it always has, making its way in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties. It is up to us to smooth out the difficulties as much as possible."
120"And that is what you are doing."
122"That is what I am doing, and that is why I am going abroad to work all summer instead of loaing."
124This is the substance of a talk the other day with Mr. Brady. It seemed so full of wisdom and so useful that the writer asked him if he might write it down and print it. He said, "Yes"—so here it is.
126Recital Club June Musicale
128The June Musicale of The Recital Club, Rose Hazard, director was held at the club studios on June 19. Elizabeth Lindner, student in piano and composition at the School of Music of the Recital Club, showed the remarkable progress she has made in her studies by her playing of the Chopin B flat minor scherzo. Her song, Lullaby, beautifully sung by Bessie Murrow, soprano, evidenced Miss Lindner's unusual talent for composition. The Recital Club Opera Ensemble, which is preparing standard grand operas and Gilbert and Sullivan operas for a concert tour next season, was heard in scenes from Faust, with Romualdo Sapi at the piano. Mildred Steel Woods made a charming Marguerite, her voice suiting the role perfectly. Westell Gordon, tenor-composer, gave an artistic interpretation of Faust, and sang the role with beauty of tone and diction. Monica Heffernan was a sweet-voiced Siebel, and also handled the part of Martha competently in the quartet. Alfred Olden was the Mephisto of the evening, and displayed a bass voice of extraordinary depth and power. Bessie Lepson was heard in the first movement of the Beethoven F minor sonata, and in Waldesrauschen, by Liszt. Miss Lepson has great technical skill and astonishing strength and breath in her playing. Anthony Pesci, a tenor with a Caruso-like quality, was well received in E lucevan le stelle (Puccini), Si vous l'avez Compris (Denza) and Wee Home I Love (O'Hara).
130The annual banquet of the club was held recently at Hotel Alamac, one of the speakers of the evening being Prof. Victor Küzdo. The studio dances at The Recital Club on Saturday evenings are proving popular even during the warm weather, and the Sunday evening Music-Hour is constantly bringing forward new talent.
132Flora Waalkes to Sing at Chautauqua
134During July, Flora Waalkes, Chicago soprano, will be the soloist at Chautauqua (N. Y.). Several appearances have been arranged for this popular artist, the most important being as soloist with the New York Symphony Orchestra, a Messiah concert, in Verdi's Requiem, in excerpts from Schubert and Mendelssohn works, and from the opera Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky.
136As soloist this season with the Chicago Apollo Club in Elijah, Miss Waalkes won unstinted success, and also with the West Suburban Choral Society. Her services have been much in demand for recitals and other concerts this season. Aside from her concert activities Miss Waalkes has had the heaviest teaching schedule this year in her experience. She is one of Chicago's most gifted artists.
138Jacobson at the Cornish School
140A new feature which has been added to the summer school curriculum of the Cornish School of Seattle, is a course in coaching and repertory in singing to be given under the direction of Myron Jacobson. Mr. Jacobson is one of the best known accompanists and coaches. He is a graduate of the Imperial Conservatory, Petrograd, where he studied under Liadoff, Essipoff, Glazinouff and the great Rimsky-Korsakoff. Later he was coach with the Music Drama Theater, during which time he was accompanist to Chaliapin, Tobinoff, Maria Gay, Lina Cavallieri and others. Mr. Jacobson will begin his courses with the regular Cornish Summer Session, which begins July 19.
142EARLE SPICER
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