Books › Musical Courier 1926-07-08: Vol 93 Iss 2, 1926 › scan 13
Scan 13
Musical Courier 1926-07-08: Vol 93 Iss 2, 1926
66 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1Anne Roselle's Dresden Success
2(Special cable to the Musical Courier)
3Dresden.—Particularly appropriate to the Fourth of July was the phenomenal success of the American singer, Anne Roselle, who on that evening created the title role in the first German production of Puccini's Turandot at the Dresden opera under the direction of Fritz Busch. Seldom has such an undisputed success been registered here. There were over fifty curtain calls, many of which were for Miss Roselle alone. Busch and General Intendant Reucker both expressed themselves as wildly enthusiastic over the singing and acting of the American artist. Miss Roselle has already been engaged for twenty appearances here next season and it is announced that she will create the role of Turandot at the Berlin Staatsoper next November.
4H. K.
6BOSTON
7(Continued from page 5)
8The crowds that flocked to Symphony Hall for the Request Night of Thursday and the Russian program of Friday made no secret of their affectionate regard for Mr. Jacchia. His appearance on the platform at the opening of both these concerts was the signal for spontaneous applause, loud and sustained. This applause was renewed at every opportunity until, at the end, the hand clapping became a veritable ovation which the popular Italian leader graciously shared with his orchestra.
10ARTHUR FIEDLER IN BRILLIANT DEBUT AS "POPS" CONDUCTOR
11Arthur Fiedler, Boston born musician and generally regarded as the most versatile member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, made an auspicious entry as conductor in this city when he appeared as leader of the final "Pops" concert on Saturday evening, July 3, in Symphony Hall, taking the place of Agide Jacchia, whose resignation was accepted by the Board of Trustees the preceding day. Mr. Fiedler selected a program well designed to demonstrate his gifts as musician, leader and interpreter. Saturday being the night before the Fourth, he opened appropriately enough with Sousa's spirited march, Stars and Stripes Forever. This was followed by a musically reading of Weber's Overture to Oberon that would have reflected credit on any conductor. Sullivan's Lost Chord, and a Fantasia from the perennial favorite, Carmen, the latter played with incisive rhythm and a nice regard for nuances, closed the group. The youthful conductor opened his second group with an effective performance of the Fourteenth Hungarian Rhapsody of Liszt. Then came Mr. Jacchia's excellent transcription of Lieurance's familiar song, By the Waters of Minnetonka, followed by Kreisler's Liebesfreud and the 1812 Overture of Tschaikowsky, which was played in a manner to disclose its dramatic content. A final group comprised the Dance of the Hours from Gioconda, Handel's Largo and, for brilliant closing number, Meacham's march, American Patrol.
12Mr. Fiedler acquitted himself not only creditably, but also with distinction. As was to be expected of a musician with his background and experience, he displayed a sensitive regard for musical structure, keen rhythmic sense and impeccable taste. His beat is easy to follow and he conducts with authority and conviction. The audience was quick to recognize his uncommon virtues as a conductor and recalled him with enthusiasm throughout the evening, necessitating many additions to the program.
13It is interesting to note that Mr. Fiedler was the first Boston musician in the history of the "Pops" to conduct this orchestra. He is thirty-two years of age. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin for several years. He is the son of Emanuel Fiedler of Berlin, Germany, who was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for twenty-five years. Mr. Fiedler has conducted in Berlin and has directed many concerts in New England. He is well known not only as a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the past eleven years but also as a coach and accompanist for internationally known concert artists. His versatility is also shown by his mastery of the violin, piano, viola and organ.
14J. C.
16Noted Violin Maker Praised in Verse
17O. H. Bryant, Boston violin maker, has in the past twenty-five years received scores of letters of admiration from patrons, but it remained for Clarence Johnson, of Watertown, N. Y., to send a charming poetic tribute, upon receipt of a made-to-order instrument from the Boston man. Mr. Johnson's verse, which has been framed and hung in the violin shop, is a graceful bit of writing, as may be seen from the following:
18TO O. H. BRYANT, LUTHIER
19When you shall put away your tools for aye,
20(Not to engage any place in cunning hand,
21But well, true eyes can keen in judging and
22The brain whose prompting all these tools obey),
23This fragile product of your skill shall stay,
24And, centuries hence, the great of earth shall stand
25Before uncounted thousands, and command
26Its strings to speak the thoughts you think today.
28AGIDE JACCHIA
29for ten years conductor of the Boston Symphony "Pop" Concerts, who resigned last week because, as he claims, the Board of Directors reduced the size of the orchestra below the number advertised and necessary for the artistic performance of the program. In his stead, Arthur Fiedler directed the final program of the season.
31Answers to letters received in this department are published as promptly as possible. The large number of inquiries and the limitation of space are responsible for any delay. The letters are answered seriatim.
33HOW TO PRONOUNCE
34Chamlee, Chahm-lee
35Chaminade, Sha-me-nahd
36McQuhae, Mc-kway
37Onegin, O-nay-gin (hard "g")
38Schorr, Shaw (the "aw" prolonged)
39Mattei, Ma-tay-ee
40Rachmaninoff, Rach-ma-nee-noff
41Wieniawski, Veen-yav-ske
43MUSIC FESTIVALS
44S. P.—In answer to your question of when music festivals first began, it can be said that the first festivals of which there is any trustworthy record were held in Italy. On the occasion of an interview between Francis I of France and Pope Leo X at Bologna in 1515, the musicians attached to their separate courts combined and gave a performance. In the early part of the seventeenth century there was a thanksgiving service at St. Peter's at Rome. A mass for six choirs by Benevoli was sung by more than two-hundred voices with organ accompaniment, the sixth choir occupying the highest part of the cupola. The first festival that took place in France was a thanksgiving for the recovery of the eldest son of Louis XIV. Lulli's Te Deum, written in 1689, was performed by 300 musicians. The earliest festival in Bohemia was held at Prague in honor of the coronation of Emperor Charles VI as King of Bohemia. On this occasion the opera, Costanza e Fortezza, by Fux, was performed in the open air by a band of 200 and a chorus of 100 voices. An account of this is given by Dr. Burney in his German Tour. In Austria the earliest festivals were given by the Musical Institution at Vienna, 400 of whose members performed oratorios twice a year at Advent and Lent, beginning in 1772. In 1808, at the festival in Vienna, given in honor of Haydn, The Creation was sung, Haydn at that time taking his farewell of the world. From these beginnings the music festival has grown to an important place in the musical life of the world.
46SAILINGS
47Florence Leonard and Louisa Hopkins
48Florence Leonard and Louisa Hopkins sailed for Europe on July 3, taking with them students who will work with Breithaupt in one of the most interesting towns of Tyrol. There also will be opportunity to attend the music festivals in Munich and Salzburg.
49The season just ended has been a very busy and successful one for Miss Leonard and Miss Hopkins, their pupils appearing at many recitals and doing excellent work in theory. Miss Hopkins' pupil, Anne Prichard, had an appearance with the Main Line Orchestra, playing the first movement of the Grieg concerto and the Liszt Polonaise, and won much praise for her tone, style and poise. Miss Leonard gave a talk near Pittsburgh at the spring recital of one of her most successful pupil-teachers. In the annual ensemble musicale, held at the Musical Art rooms, the pupils were assisted by Alexander Zenker, violin, and Adolf Vogel, cello. Both ensemble numbers and solos were warmly applauded by a large and enthusiastic audience.
50Miss Leonard and Miss Hopkins re-open their studios early in September.
52Alice Garrigue Mott
53Alice Garrigue Mott recently closed her very successful teaching season of 1925-26 and sailed for Europe on July 3 on the S.S. Franconia. Her summer address will be care of the American Express Co., London, England. Mme. Mott will reopen her New York studios on September 20, after spending some time in England, France and Czechoslovakia, where she and her husband will visit their brother-in-law, President Thomas Garrigue Masaryk and their niece, Dr. Alice Garrigue Masaryk.
55OBITUARY
56Nicholas Rothmühl
57Kammersänger Nicholas Rothmühl passed away suddenly in Berlin recently from heart failure at the age of sixty-nine. He was at one time a famous opera singer in Germany and later in life one of the metropole's most distinguished singing teachers. As the director of the Stern Conservatory's opera class he developed many of Germany's finest singers. Rothmühl was born in Warsaw, Poland, but received his musical education at the Viennese music academy. His triumphal career as tenor led him from Vienna over Dresden and Stuttgart to Berlin where his particular success was as Eleazar in Halevy's La Juive. As Rothmühl was not only a fine teacher, but also a charming personality, his death is a real loss to the German musical world. The Stern Conservatory has not yet announced his successor.
58C. H. T.
60Elise Elizza
61Elise Elizza, known as the last mistress of bel canto in Vienna, has died after a severe operation. She was a member of the Vienna Staatsoper for about twenty years and retired after seven years ago. Since then she has been one of the principal vocal teachers of Vienna. She was famous for the wide scope of her repertory which ranged from Leonora, Mimi, La Traviata and Pamina (in The Magic Flute) to operetta on one side and to Brünnhilde on the other. Mahler discovered her for the Vienna Opera, where she has sung more than 2,000 times.
62P. B.
64Carolyn Alchin
65On June 24, Carolyn Alchin died in Los Angeles, Cal., of a paralytic stroke, after only a week's illness. She was teacher of harmony and also authoress, having written Tone Thinking and Ear Testing, Applied Harmony, and several other books on the theory of music.
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