Scan 4
Musical Courier 1927-04-07: Vol 94 Iss 14, 1927
54 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1LONDON ORCHESTRAS HONOR BEETHOVEN
3Léner Quartet Completes Beethoven Series Before Crowded House—Honegger Conducts King David—England's Enfants Terribles Settling Down—Godowsky Returns to London—The Kiepura Bubble
5LONDON.—Into the midst of our anniversary bliss fell the bombshell about the disbanding of the Queen's Hall Orchestra. Londoners, especially those who never go near the Queen's Hall, talked in lugubrious tones about a musical crisis, while other people, in unprecedented numbers, flocked to hear Beethoven string quartets at the threatened "national centre of music."
7It is Beethoven against Boosey, and I am not nervous about the outcome. The future of London music is not going to be decided by Mr. Boosey and the piano manufacturers, nor by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the impresarios. The Beethoven anniversary has shown that enough people love music sincerely to see that they get it. All they want is to be sure that the music is first rate.
9Thanks to the centenary we have managed to get an uncommon amount of first-rate music. First of all must be mentioned the monumental undertaking of the Léner Quartet, which gave us an unforgettable performance of all the string quartets of the master, with the Great Fugue thrown in for good measure. From the first concert, which already drew a surprisingly large audience, the attendance grew steadily until at the sixth the Queen's Hall was completely sold out. The close attention of the audience, the murmurs of delight after every fine movement, and the genuine, inspiring enthusiasm at the end would—or should—make every pessimist repent. It was magnificent.
11UNOFFICIAL CELEBRATIONS
13No "official" notice is being taken of the Beethoven anniversary under this admittedly non-musical government, unless the concerts of the British Broadcasting Corporation (a government body), can be considered official. That organization does its bit by broadcasting Fidelio, by weekly lectures on the composer by Sir Walford Davies, and sundry performances.
15Meantime the London Symphony and other orchestras have given all the symphonies except the second (against which there is a strange prejudice) and the seventh; nearly all the concertos, and other works. And the Royal Philharmonic Society brings the celebrations to a climax with a big performance of the Missa Solemnis and the Choral Fantasia under Sir Hugh Allen in the Albert Hall on March 24. A few days later Hermann Abendroth from Cologne conducts the London Symphony in the Ninth Symphony, preceded by the first.
17The London Symphony, indeed, has been holding pretty strictly to the classical of late, if one may count Elgar among the classics (for he is certainly so regarded here). Elgar himself conducted one of the concerts, consisting entirely of his own works, from the Froissart overture to that thundering arrangement of a Bach Fugue (C minor), which seems to show the old Leipsic cantor in the guise of a prosperous British imperialist. Gaspar Cassadó played the cello concerto with his accustomed artistry.
19Hermann Abendroth, of Cologne, who conducted the next concert, stuck to the three B's, making a fine impression with Brahms' E minor symphony, the tempi of which was often too sluggish for my taste. And Sir Thomas Beecham, recently returned from a continental tour, varied the fare but slightly by substituting Schumann for Brahms and Mozart for Bach. His reading of the "Rhenish" symphony of Schumann was a revelation of youthful strength and grace; his presentation of the rarely heard "Prague" symphony of Mozart (No. 34, C major) a marvel of grace and lyric charm.
21HONEgger CONDUCTS KING DAVID
23The British Broadcasting Corporation, which at present is the storm centre of the musical interests, has, curiously enough, done more for contemporary music than any other organization this season, barring none. It has produced a number of large-scale works which otherwise would certainly not have been heard, such as Strauss' Alpine Symphony (under Strauss himself), Elgar's Falstaff (under Elgar himself), Respighi's Pines of Rome, the first English performance of Casella's La Giara, the ballet music from Rimsky-Korsakoff's Mlada, and the first English orchestral performance of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht.
25The latest and most brilliant of these occasions has been the first English performance of Honegger's King David, with a magnificent chorus, splendid orchestra, fine soloists (including Phyllis Archibald's luscious contralto) and under the baton of Honegger himself. The work made a deep impression on a huge audience present in the flesh (and on a huger one via the ether); it is the product of an extraordinarily vivid pictorial imagination, and a bold, genuine, vigorous musicianship. King David, despite its episodic character, has gone further in revitalizing an almost dead form than any other work in a generation.
27A new work by Gustav Holst, The Morning of the Year, described as a choral ballet, had its first performance after the Honegger oratorio. In contrast with the bold Oriental imagery of Honegger it probably sounded more tame than necessary; but in any case, if as the program indicated it purports to express in an English way that Stravinsky in the "Sacre," then give me the Russian way every tme.
29MORE FOREIGN CONDUCTORS
31Casella's La Giara, by the way, made an excellent impression here, as a sort of younger brother to Petrouchka—pleasantly colorful and even melodious in the more unexciting sense. The beauty of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht (which served to introduce another German conductor, Hermann Scherchen, to London), surprised those people who in of Jelly d'Aranyi and the horn of Aubrey Brain. Unkind people would say that she could have shown her sentiments better by sparing them this concerto, but then she did not
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35BOSTON SYMPHONY GIVES MEMORABLE BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL
37Notable Series of Concerts Offered Under Koussevitzky—Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society Participate in Choral Works—Ernest Newman Comes from London to Deliver Address—Huge Audiences Enthusiastic Throughout Week
39BOSTON.—Serge Koussevitzky's name will henceforth figure conspicuously in the musical annals of this city. To him particularly is due the conception and brilliant success of the Beethoven Centenary Festival given under the auspices of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from March 22 to March 29 in Symphony Hall. Certainly the Festival proved to be the most elaborate and perhaps the most significant of the numerous Beethoven commemorations that marked the hundredth anniversary of the master symphonist's death. A colossal undertaking, the scale on which it was conceived and the lofty artistic standards maintained throughout the week testify eloquently to the musical idealism of the local orchestra's great Russian leader.
41The first concert, that of Tuesday evening, March 22, was devoted to the Missa Solemnis, unheard in Boston since Symphony Hall was opened to the public twenty-six years ago. Assisting the orchestra were a chorus of 350 singers from the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society, and these soloists—Olive Marshall, soprano; Jeanne Gordon, contralto; Tudor Davies, tenor, and Arthur Middleton, bass. Beethoven's fondness for this Mass in D—he esteemed it above everything he had written—may be attributed to his profoundly religious nature. Rarely, if ever, in his music—or in the music of any composer, for that matter—have the good, the true and the beautiful been fused to form a more perfect artistic whole than in this deeply moving drama of man at the throne of God. In the Divine Presence Beethoven's imagination finds greater wings, his sincere idealism becomes more articulate, his innate force of personality rejoices in more complete freedom of expression. As Bekker observes in his valuable biography: "He needed a text which should exclude everything personal, in the narrower sense of the term, which should be free of actual occurrences, in order that the deeper significance of symbolic action might become apparent. . . . He could find such a basis upon which to work only in a single form, hallowed by centuries of use to enshrine the most solemn act of the Church, the mass."
43Although manifestly of uneven worth, only the hypercritical would stop to find flaws in this generally inspired music. As against occasional and inevitable moments of dullness in a work of such dimensions, there are passages of sublime exultation that amply warrant Beethoven's hope, "From the heart it hath come—to the heart may it penetrate." Consider, for example, the grave beauty of the Kyrie, the stirring vision of the Gloria, the heavenly ecstasy of the Sanctus and the Benedictus, the thrilling, dramatic power of that uncanonical page in the Agnus Dei, with its celebrated martial measures accompanying the impassioned entreaty for peace. The music abounds in a dramatic quality that is perhaps better suited to the opera house than to the cathedral, but through its beauty and power Beethoven has given eloquent voice to the universal aspiration of humanity to communicate with God, to spiritual serenity, to the peace that passeth understanding.
45The performance was indeed a memorable one. Inspired by the magnitude of the occasion, and by the throbbing vitality which he has ever found in Beethoven, Mr. Koussevitzky scaled the heights and plumbed the depths of this mystical drama in a manner which was altogether overwhelming. Of his ability as a choral conductor, he had long since given convincing proof. In his hands, orchestra, chorus, and soloists became a responsive unity. Here was the greater Koussevitzky—of power and sincerity, of fervid absorption, succeeding like Beethoven in escaping earthly limitations and disclosing the very soul of the music by recreating the dreams, the visions, the mystery of this Mass in D.
47A word of praise is due Mr. Burgin, the concertmaster, whose violin solo in the Benedictus Qui Venit section of the Sanctus, caught its mystical exultation with telling effect. The soloists were altogether adequate to the occasion. The chorus sang with notable precision of attack and release, beauty of tone, and, of possibly greater importance, with communicative ardor. Dr. Davison, of the Harvard Glee
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50(no line here) one of two readings
52LEA LUBOSHUTZ, one of two readings
53who appeared twice this season with Josef Hofmann in Carnegie Hall, New York, once in joint concert and again in recital when Mr. Hofmann assisted the violinist in the Bruch G minor concerto. Next season Mme. Luboshutz will again appear in concert with the famous pianist and also will fulfill engagements as soloist with America's leading orchestras. She also will teach two days each week at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, having been engaged as a member of the faculty for a period of thirty-two weeks. She closes the present season at the Ann Arbor Festival on May 20, and will sail for Europe on the S.S. Olympic on May 28 (Photo by Mishkin.) one of two readings
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