Scan 5
Musical Courier 1927-01-06: Vol 94 Iss 1, 1927
79 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.
1MOLINARI INAUGURATES CONCERT SEASON IN ROME
2Opera Seasons Like Mushrooms Are Short Lived—New American Tenor Makes a Hit
4Rome.—Rome's concert season has been officially opened at the Augusteo by Bernardino Molinari. With a chorus of three hundred and fifty he conducted his own transcription of Monteverdi's Sonata ad Sancta Maria, Beethoven's Fantasia for orchestra, chorus and piano and Perosi's Transitus Animae.
6Molinari's transcription is delicate, charming and in perfect style, but the performance was not all that could be desired. For the chorus is too new to have achieved a perfect blending of voices. The Beethoven was likewise rather unsatisfactory, because of hurried tempi and a general gaiety of interpretation unsuited to the work. Giuseppe Cristiani, of Santa Cecilia, gave a brilliant and delicate performance of the piano part. A glorious performance of Perosi's beautiful and moving oratorio, however, closed the evening on a high plane of artistic accomplishment. Amalia Bertola, the young mezzo-soprano who sang the solos, has a lovely voice and sang on this occasion as if she were inspired. She and Molinari were enthusiastically recalled before the immense audience which had gathered in spite of the high prices. On the following Sunday the entire concert was repeated with an even greater success.
8Salomea Kruscinski, a Ruthenian singer who withdrew from public life a number of years ago, made her reappearance at the inaugural concert of the Filarmonica under Alberto Canetti. She sang Beethoven's aria, Ah Perdido, which, unfortunately, was unsuitable for her voice. The program included Benedetto Marcello's Serenade for the Birthday of Charles VI, Mozart's Clarinet concerto and Mendelssohn's Lauda Toni. The audience applauded enthusiastically and Canetti was recalled many times.
10In a song recital, a few days later, Kruscinski gave a varied and eclectic program ranging from Bach to Castelnuovo-Tedesco. She showed musicianship and good style.
12Bronislaw Gimpel, the sixteen-year-old violinist, who is creating such a stir in Italy and Austria, has given a series of five recitals which have developed into five successive triumphs. His brother, Carol, is an excellent accompanist and will tour Italy with Bronislaw in that capacity.
14Other recitalists who must be recorded are Ludwig Kentner, the young Hungarian pianist, whose finished technique, musically readings and fine style won him immediate success; G. Wagner, Charlotte von Recsey and Hans Basserman, all pianists (the latter appearing with the singer, Ellen Overgaard); three violinists, Georg Garay, Philipp Scharf and Edith Lorand, and the cellist, Enrico Mainardi. Their fine performances made them stand out from the numerous artists appearing in Rome.
16TEATRO ADRIANO CLOSED
17Opera seasons in Rome are somewhat like mushrooms. They appear suddenly, flourish and disappear. The latest disappearance, that of the season at Il Teatro Adriano, is deeply to be regretted, for the performances were excellent and the ensemble of artists had, on the whole, the most beautiful voices heard in Rome within memory. The public failed to support the venture, however, and Bonci sang its obsequies in an imposing performance of The Masked Ball.
19AMERICANS POPULAR
20Its place is already taken, however, by a short and flourishing operatic season at the Teatro Eliseo, under the able and artistic direction of Ernesto Sebastiani, who also conducted successful performances of Traviata, La Bohème, Andréa Chenier, Carmen and The Barber of Seville. These performances are chiefly interesting because of the new talent they have introduced to Rome, the most promising being Arturo de Filippi, an American tenor, who made his debut in Traviata. His voice is warm, of unusual range, and under good control while his acting carried conviction. He was so enthusiastically received that he was immediately billed as Almaviva in the Barber. Second honors went to an American as well. This time it was the soprano, Bianca Bellaire, who sang Mimi in Bohème. Her sympathetic voice, correct singing and good acting won her a genuine success.
22MORE MUSIC FOR MADRID
23José Lassalle Organizes New Orchestra—Two New Concert Halls—Philharmonic Series Suspended
24Madrid.—The concert season, which always starts late here, opened this year with great éclat. For Madrid has now risen from the depressing state of having two homeless which is supported by the Circle. But the concerts which began so auspiciously and with announcements of such attractive novelties, have been suspended for some reason still unknown. One of the most curious novelties promised was new music written by a young Madrid composer, for a film production of Carmen. one of two readings
25Madrid.—The concert season, which always starts late here, opened this year with great éclat. For Madrid has now risen from the depressing state of having two homeless orchestras (the opera house is still closed) to the dizzy heights of two new concert halls and a third orchestra in addition. one of two readings
27One of the new halls, the Palacio de Musica, is situated on the Gran Via and has accommodation for about a thousand people besides an underground room for chamber music. It has a beautiful interior and excellent acoustics. The second hall is also large but has poor acoustics. It is built in the new club house of the Fine Arts Circle and will house the Philharmonic Orchestra, under Perez Casas, which is supported by the Circle. But the concerts which began so auspiciously and with announcements of such attractive novelties, have been suspended for some reason still unknown. One of the most curious novelties promised was new music written by a young Madrid composer, for a film production of Carmen. one of two readings
29FINE ENSEMBLE
30As for the new orchestra, it is composed of ninety men and has been organized by the Spanish conductor, José Lassalle. He has had a long career as conductor, especially in Munich, where he studied with Ludwig Thuille and afterwards became conductor of the Tonkünstlerorchester. His talents as an orchestral leader were manifest at the first concert of the new orchestra, which played with excellent ensemble from the start. The carefully chosen program comprised the Sinfonie Fantastique by Berlioz, a Concerto Grosso by Handel, De Falla's Amor Brujo and the Meistersinger overture. Lassalle's aim is to bring out, aside from the German
32JOSE LASSALLE, one of two readings
33organizer and conductor of the New Orchestra in Madrid. one of two readings
35orchestras (the opera house is still closed) to the dizzy heights of two new concert halls and a third orchestra in addition. one of two readings
37One of the new halls, the Palacio de Musica, is situated on the Gran Via and has accommodation for about a thousand people besides an underground room for chamber music. It has a beautiful interior and excellent acoustics. The second hall is also large but has poor acoustics. It is built in the new club house of the Fine Arts Circle and will house the Philharmonic Orchestra, under Perez Casas, one of two readings
38(no line here) one of two readings
40WILHELM RODE
41Wagnerian baritone, who scored a sensational success at Vienna, as Wotan in Die Walküre.
43classics, works by Bruckner and Mahler, both of whom are practically unknown here.
45NEW PORTUGUESE COMPOSER
46Besides these he will conduct a good deal of Spanish music. His novelties, up to now, have included a symphonic poem, Despues de una Lectura de Anthero de Quental, by the Portuguese composer, Luis Freitas Branco; and a suite by the Spanish composer, Gulio Gomez. They are both good works.
48The Symphonic Orchestra (Royal Opera) series, which has always been given by Fernandez Arbós, will not begin until January, because Arbós has been conducting in England, France and Switzerland. His orchestra is filling in the time by playing for an improvised opera season at the Teatro Zarzuela.
50The chamber music series sponsored by the Asociacion de Cultura Musical has been very successful. We have heard the Munich Huber-Hegar Trio, Jacques Thibaud, and the delightful Cherniaevsky Trio.
52FRENCH MUSIC PREDOMINATES IN RUMANIA
53BUCHAREST.—The Rumanian Opera is working at present as a state institution under the direction of M. Charles Cocoresco. Its first novelty, under the new management, was Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys. The fine cast and original scenery in exquisite taste combined to make a memorable performance.
55FRENCH MUSIC
56Two French conductors have been here so far this season. There was Rhené-Baton who introduced us to Les Escales by Jacques Ibert; Pacific 231, by Honegger, and En Kernes, by J. Vuillemin. And there was Henri Morin, who won great applause at his concert series. His soloists included Juan Manén and Arnold Rosé.
58Among the recitalists, Jan Kuhelik proved to be a great disappointment. Juan Manén was hardly better, for he played a sonata, by himself, which lacked character and interest. We fared better with José Iturbi, pianist, who is so fine an interpreter of modern music; with the Rosé Quartet and finally with George Enesco, who, with Alfred Alexandresco at the piano, played four unknown sonatas by Honegger, Milhaud, Korngold and Guy Ropartz. A. A.
60STEFI GEYER SCORES IN AMSTERDAM
61AMSTERDAM.—The Hungarian violinist, Stefi Geyer, has appeared in recital here with enormous success. Not only her perfect technic, but the nobility of her style make this artist rank among the upper few. Her program was interesting, comprising a Passacaglia by Sammartini, Partita of Bach, a concerto in three parts by Schulthess, and a number of smaller pieces.
63Another Hungarian violinist, Francis Aranyi, played the Szymanowski concerto with Monteux's orchestra, this being our first hearing of this interesting work. Its brilliance, unusual rhythms and occasional beautifully lyrical passages were given their just due by Aranyi, whose conveyance of this new musical message to us, left nothing to be desired.
65Berlioz Damnation of Faust was given a brilliant performance in which solo and choral parts were flawlessly rendered, to say nothing of the orchestra. Much praise is due Pierre Monteux for his painstaking care of every detail, and for his masterly conducting.
67FINE PERFORMANCE OF HINDEMITH'S CARDILLAC HEARD IN WIESBADEN
68New Kind of Bel Canto—Virile Music
70(no line here) one of two readings
71WIESBADEN.—Following the successful première of Paul Hindemith's new opera, Cardillac, in Dresden, came its brilliant production at the Wiesbaden State Theater, where it attracted a large and distinguished audience. The composer has allowed a pause to intervene between his earlier short music dramas and this, his latest operatic work, devoting himself in the meantime to chamber music.
73This new work is not yet "the" new opera, indeed it is questionable whether it is at all possible to create in opera anything new and sufficiently vital to endure. Hindemith dispenses with the recitative of the old Italian opera. But we find, as in earlier opera, real "numbers" and, I might say, a new kind of bel canto—a wonderful use of the voice often at the same time as the chorus and with the orchestra in counterpoint. "Romantic" tremolos and empty sound-padding are replaced by excellently worked-out themes. At the same time we have, especially in the first act, illustrative music. Tender lyrical passages, delicate lines, the instrumentation of which is Hindemith's strong point, interchange with wild, dramatic scenes, which frequently attain vivid effects by the use of drum and saxophone.
75But Hindemith's greatness, in which he exceeds all contemporary musicians, is his impetus. It is a life force tearing forward, carrying us irresistibly on with its rhythm and dynamics, especially when under the leadership of such a temperament and capable conductor as Otto Klemperer, whom Wiesbaden is unfortunately going to lose to Berlin. The second act is the most perfect, and its beautiful passages, brilliantly rendered by the singers, Fritz Krenn (Cardillac), Frau Müller-Rudolph (daughter), and Laholm as Officer, made it the crowning point of the performance. If space afforded we might speak at greater length of the staging by Dr. Schüler and of the scenery by Buchholz. Both were cleverly adapted to the weird, but by no means romantically vague, character of the story and music.
77STAGE SETTING FOR FIRST ACT OF HINDEMITH'S CARDILLAC AT WIESBADEN
78The scenery is by Gerhard T. Buchholz
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