Scan 9
Musical Courier 1928-05-10: Vol 96 Iss 19, 1928
85 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1New York Concerts
3APRIL 29
5Marie Van Gelder Singers
6Artist students from the Van Gelder vocal studios collaborated in Birchard Hall, April 29, in a concert, for the benefit of the Guild of Vocal Teachers, presenting a program of songs, arias, duets, a trio, and two quartets, all of which gave much pleasure to those assembled. Christine Black sang The Cry of Rachel with beautiful voice and dramatic interpretation; it was noteworthy singing. Estelle Gleissner sang with true expression, and Elsa Mandelin's clear and pretty voice was very effective. Mae Zenke sang O Don Fatale with nobility, and Rhea Becker's splendid voice and style were recognized in Un Bel Di (Madame Butterfly). Also heard in effective solos and ensemble numbers were Miriam Arrington, Hjordas Longacre, Reda Liebovitz, Hilda Eadie and Harry Futterman, and the Misses Becker, Eadie and Mandelin. Mme. Van Gelder played the accompaniments.
8In an intermission Mme. Ziegler, president of the Guild, talked briefly about the aims and purposes of the organization, said that students would be aided financially, called attention to the first Guild Convention May 27, also the radio hour, and quoted the slogan of the Guild, "Study Singing in America." Many recalls and flowers for the singers punctuated the affair.
10APRIL 30
12Gitla Erstinn
13With Marion Carley at the piano, Gitla Erstinn, soprano, gave a song recital at the Y. W. C. A., 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, April 30, which embraced Italian, German, Russian, and English groups. Rimsky-Korsakoff's aria from The Czar's Bride, in sorrowful key, largely chanted without accompaniment, was finely sung, with beautiful high F sharps and B. Black Eyes (Russian gypsy song, a waltz in D minor) was sung with such individuality and dramatic intensity that it had to be repeated. Jackdaw and Falcon (Schindler arrangement) had a real polka lift and was sung with much vim; the unusual accompaniment was brilliantly played. Several arias, standard lieder and a final group by Americans, with enthusiastic applause and presentation of flowers to the fair singer, were features of the affair.
15American Orchestral Society
16The American Orchestral Society closed its season on April 30 with a concert at Mecca Auditorium, with Chalmers Clifton conducting and Ernest Schelling as assistant artist. The program included the overture Russian Easter by Rimsky-Korsakoff, Impressions of an Artist's Life by Ernest Schelling, played by the composer and the orchestra, and Don Juan by Richard Strauss. Impressions of an Artist's Life is Schelling's best work to date, and although it is about fifteen years since it was first heard it has all of the freshness and beauty that it had when it was new. It is a pity that it is not given oftener.
18The American Orchestral Society has done good work this year under Mr. Clifton's skilled direction, and the or-
20chestra plays like a professional body of men and women—for there are a few women in it. Four members have been selected by Reiner and Sokoloff for their orchestras at Cincinnati and Cleveland. Among the four is a woman who will play first violin at Cincinnati.
22Katherine Bacon
23The fourth and last of Katherine Bacon's all-Schubert piano recitals took place at Town Hall on April 30 and attracted an audience that was easily one of the largest that this reviewer has seen in that auditorium this season. The program comprised six Moments Musicaux and three sonatas, one in E flat Op. 122, one in D major Op. 53, and the posthumous one in B flat.
25The genuine artistry that Miss Bacon has brought to this Schubert series has been commented upon at length both in this paper and by the reviewers in the daily press, so that it seems hardly necessary to repeat that she played with the same skill and that she displayed in the presentation of her program and in the numerous encores the same excellent pianistic qualities and interpretative ability that have made the recitals a notable contribution to New York's Schubert Centenary celebrations.
27The Moments Musicaux, which were the most familiar numbers of the evening, Miss Bacon played with a spirit and an insight into the poetic beauty of the little masterpieces that brought her rounds of applause from her listeners. The posthumous sonata in B flat was particularly impressive. Incidentally, it is difficult to understand just why more pianists in the past have not played this and the other Schubert sonatas with greater frequency here. It is to be hoped that not only next season, when the celebrations of the composer's centenary are in full swing, but in other seasons to come recitalists will follow the example of Miss Bacon and present these too little known works more often.
29Frederick Bristol
30A good sized audience gathered at Steinway Hall on April 30 to hear Frederick Bristol's last New York recital before leaving for South America. The young pianist (grandson of Frederick Bristol, dean of New York Vocal Teachers) played a program of exclusively modern composers, beginning with Ravel and Debussy, through Honegger, Delmas, Fairchild, Ygoun, and Mompou, Cowell and Voormoelen; his fluent technical and good taste brought him much applause.
32Hans Merx
33Hans Merx, baritone, was heard in Schubert's beautiful song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin, at the Provincetown Playhouse on April 30.
35Mr. Merx, who possesses a voice of true lyric qualities and whose singing is marked by rare purity of diction, displayed, in his rendition of the romantic song cycle, a sincerity of purpose and a poetic fervor which kindled in his audience an affirmative response. The German Lieder retained his presentation in all the beauty and freshness with which they were originally conceived. The program, which contained the charming little story that binds together the Lieder, closed with four additional songs of Schubert, the first of which, Der Kreuzzug, is seldom sung.
37N. Val Pavey was an able and sympathetic accompanist.
39MAY 2
41Central Choral Club
42Lotta Madden's Central Choral Club, organized with twelve singers last fall, and now numbering forty excellent voices, was heard in the Central Church of Disciples on May 2. Conducting from memory, Miss Madden showed her splendid control in numbers by Martin, Tosti, Roeckel, Clough-Leighter, Fanning, Adams and in folk songs. The singers exhibited admirable tone quality, enunciated distinctly and gave intelligent heed to their conductor. Betsy Lane Shepherd, soprano, and Ruth Taylor Macdowell, violinist, were assisting solo artists; Miss Gates, and Messrs.
44THE BOGUE-LABERGE Concert Management announces that Paulo Gruppe is under their exclusive direction. For terms and available dates address: The Bogue-Laberge Concert Mgt. Inc., 130 West 42nd Street, New York.
46PAULO GRUPPE one of two readings
47CELLIST one of two readings
48PAULO GRUPPE CELLIST one of two readings
50Dr. G. de KOOS
51CONCERT MANAGER
52Tours arranged in all European Countries
539 Dedelstraat
54The Hague, Holland
56(no line here) one of two readings
57Idleman and Visel sang incidental solos, and Bendemeer's Stream was sung by the Misses Phillips, Gates, Day, Van Dorin, Streafield and McPike.
59The Brahms Club
60Leo Braun conducted the May 2 concert of the Brahms Club, Town Hall, with Earle Tuckerman, baritone soloist, before a large audience; this is invariably the case, for the beautiful singing of the women making up this chorus, the able playing of the N. Y. Festival Orchestra, and the varied program, all are most attractive. Five languages were heard, in itself a most unusual accomplishment. James P. Dunn's Marquesan Isle made such effect that it had to be repeated. Deems Taylor's beautiful The Highwayman was superbly sung, with baritone solo (Earle Tuckerman). Refinement of expression and vocal production characterizes the singing of this club, and the audience rewarded all concerned with continuous applause. Luther Gloss played accompaniments for the club and Ruth Emerson for Mr. Tuckerman.
62Rosé String Quartet
63Returning from Washington, where it had made its first American appearance at the Library of Congress, the celebrated Rosé String Quartet of Vienna drew an audience to Steinway Hall on May 2 that overflowed into the foyer and even into the dressing rooms back of the stage. Many listeners thus could not see the performances from where they sat.
65Professors Arnold Rosé (first violin), Paul Fischer (second violin), Anton Ruzitska (viola) and Anton Walter (cello) have for many years been associated as a quartet which in all European countries is regarded as the legitimate successor to the original Florentine Quartet and the Joachim Quartet. In the course of their program, which consisted of Mozart's G major quartet (K 387), Beethoven's B flat, op. 130, and Schubert's D minor quartet, the four distinguished exponents of chamber music very soon demonstrated the reasons for their exalted position in that field. Every detail and requirement of a perfectly unified ensemble was manifest, and the grace of Mozart, the largesse of Beethoven and the serene beauty of Schubert were brought out in a degree possible only to masterly performers and musicians. From the standpoint of sheer tonal beauty, however, it must in justice to some (not many) of the more youthful organizations now before the public, be recorded that the impressive performance did not quite reach the standard, which latter day audiences know to be possible of attainment. The Rosé tone, while amply voluminous, is a trifle scholastic in timbre, a fact which detracted in a measure from the transcendent beauty of the Death and the Maiden variations of Schubert. The same criticism was applicable to the playing of the Joachim quartet in its later days, and it will probably be in order with respect to other first class aggregations when the silver strands shall predominate—freshness, charm and sensuousness are youth's natural prerogatives.
67As an object lesson in the hows, whys and wherefores of quartet playing the work of Professor Rosé and his distinguished colleagues is of the greatest value to devotees, both professional and amateur, of this most worthy and dignified branch of musical endeavor, and their future appearances will doubtless be looked forward to with keen anticipation.
69Bach Cantata Club and Oratorio Society
70The Bach B minor Mass was given in its entirety at St. Thomas' Church on May 2 by the Bach Cantata Club and the New York Oratorio Society, under the direction of Albert Stoessel, and with the assistance of Mildred Faas, soprano; Mina Hager, contralto; Robert Elwyn, tenor, and Herbert Gould, bass. The instrumental portion of the score was furnished by Hugh Porter, organist, and by a small orchestra, in which Mischa Mischakoff, violin; Bruno Jaennicke, horn; Meredith Willson, flute, and Bruno Labate, oboe d'amore, were instrumental soloists. The cembalo was played by Everett Tutchings. The performance took place from five thirty in the afternoon to seven in the evening, and then, after an intermission of one hour and a half, was continued at eight thirty.
72Any presentation of this masterpiece of Bach would have been impressive given in the beautiful St. Thomas' Church, but, as this performance was one of a high order, the result was nothing short of magnificent. The huge edifice, both in the afternoon and in the evening, was crowded with Bach enthusiasts, and when the surpliced choir, instrumentalists, soloists and Mr. Stoessel, all massed in the nave of the church, presented the glorious work, it was evident that the audience (though under the circumstances applause was hardly in order) was more than moved.
74Under the expert leadership of Mr. Stoessel the choruses sang in a manner that was possibly even superior to the usual excellence of the two well known ensembles. The soloists did notable work as well. Mildred Faas and Mina Hager were both most effective, while the fine tenor of Robert Elwyn and the rich tones of Mr. Gould's bass also gave complete satisfaction. As for Mischa Mischakoff, it is needless to say that he was an asset to the performance.
76Mr. Stoessel is to be congratulated on presenting such a performance, one which will remain long in the memory of this reviewer.
78MAY 3
80Maud von Steuben
81Maud von Steuben, soprano and artist-pupil of Minna Kaufmann, gave a recital at Town Hall on May 3. In the presentation of her program, which included numbers by Bononcini, Traetta, Meyerbeer, Wagner, Schumann, Hugo Frey, Richard Strauss, Delibes and Paladilhe, and a group comprising songs by Charles Gilbert Spross, Bryceon Treharne, Sigurd Lie and W. M. Rummel, she displayed a well trained voice of pleasing quality. What she sang was done
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