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Musical Courier 1928-06-21: Vol 96 Iss 25, 1928
74 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1June 21, 1928
3London Hears Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex via Radio
5(Continued from page 7)
7Duparc's Ecstase) and Ruth Welsh, who also specialized on French songs and showed decided ability in a group of Wolf. She was accompanied by Coenraad V. Bos. Augustus Milner, an American baritone, resident here, delighted his numerous admirers with a Schubert program which contained some rather unacknowledged items.
9SKIPPING SCHIPA
11Among the singing celebrities Tito Schipa came here for a flying visit to cater to the de luxe diners of the May Fair Hotel, only to disappear as fast as he came. Maria Olczewska, who is soon to be heard in America, appeared in concert here for the first time in a joint recital with Paul Herman, the young Hungarian cellist, and treated us to a glorious performance of the Zigeunerlieder by Brahms. Elena Gerhardt retrieved her reputation as a program maker by singing an entire evening of Wolf. Accompanied by Bos, she gave her audience an evening of pure delight.
13Ruzena Herlinger, a Viennese soprano of Czech nationality, who recently introduced herself most favorably to London by singing the voice-part of Schönberg's D minor Quartet, again gave evidence of an extraordinarily beautiful soprano in a song recital which featured some interesting modern items (Schönberg and Alban Berg) and five Gipsy Songs of Dvorak, which she sang in Czech and with the true Czech temperament. Especially beautiful, however, was a Schubert group comprising Die junge Nonne, Nachviolen and Rastlose Liebe.
15WARLICH SINGS JARNACH
17The Spanish-German composer, Philip Jarnach, was introduced here in a recital by Reinhold von Warlich, consisting entirely of songs by Pfitzner, Strauss and Jarnach, with the last-named composer at the piano. Of the three, Strauss still proved the most seductive, though both Pfitzner and Jarnach have fine qualities which would bear a greater familiarity, the former in a decidedly romantic vein, the latter with something of the modern psychological analysis and an idioms that is distinctly of today.
19Two more singers who deserve notice are Phyllis Archibald and Dorothy Robson, both contraltos. Miss Archibald strayed from the beaten path by including Berlioz' Je vais mourir (from Les Troyens) in her program; Miss Robson stuck bravely to Brahms and Wolf, whom she interpreted with varying merit. Miss Archibald has one of the finest voices to be heard in London.
21PACHMANN'S STOP WATCH
23Pachmann, that octogenarian child, played what he called his "farewell" concert at the Albert Hall, and gave London the brightest afternoon it has had in some time. He played Chopin, danced, made speeches, cut the usual capers, brought a stopwatch and ran through the Minute Waltz in fifty-five seconds. Farewell? We seem to have heard of Pachmann farewells before. When he's really gone we shall begin to feel old.
25Rachmaninoff, another pianistic curiosity, evidently dislikes his job as much as Pachmann likes it. He, too, played Chopin, but always under the shadow of a fearful dread. Soon or later the audience would insist. . . . He didn't wait: he barely got to the wings after the last number when he turned around and got it over with. I needn't add what it was. A Maupassant could write a story of a man being driven to suicide by the popularity of a piece in C sharp minor.
27PIANISTIC AMAZONS
29Frieda Kwast-Hodapp headed the list of women pianists and played Bach, Beethoven and Chopin like a man—and a big one at that. Her equipment is stupendous, and her playing of the Debussy Etudes for the Five Fingers "de après Monsieur Czerny" made one gasp.
31Harriet Cohen, too, astonished her audience at a joint recital with Juliette Alvin, a French cellist, by the masculine way in which she played the Brahms F minor sonata and a sonata by the inevitable Bax. Some day she will astonish New York. Jan Smeterling, her Polish confrère, repeated his recent Chopin recital by special request. A pianist with a real following of fans.
33JASHA AND CECILIA
35Jasha Heifetz has come back to dazzle his admirers in the Albert Hall. The crowd, despite the fine spring weather, was big, and, as usual, enthusiastic. Cecilia Hansen, who has never played here before, was hailed as a sensation. London critics rarely know what's going on elsewhere, and there's nothing like taking them by surprise. She played the Goldmark concerto so that it sounded better than itself, presented Bach, Vitali and Handel with all the nobility, breadth and technical command that they require. She is appearing again shortly and may count on a big reception.
37THE OPERA
39Opera at Covent Garden is going its accustomed way. It is doing such surprisingly good business that the press is evidently considered to have outlived its usefulness. If our esteemed colleague, Ernest Newman, did not get an invitation to the second Ring, a mere foreigner has probably no right to complain, but how do the artists who get no mention feel about it?
41The performance of Die Meistersinger on May 10 gave us some of the finest playing we have had so far this season from the orchestra under Bruno Walter. The brass in particular rose manfully to the occasion, and the playing of the strings in the second act was exquisite.
43Emil Schipper proved disappointing vocally as Hans Sachs. Rudolf Laubenthal's interpretation of Walther was youthful and infectiously exuberant. The most beautiful singing of the evening came from Lotte Lehmann as Eva. In her scene with Hans Sachs she touched unerringly the right atmosphere of delicate naive charm; in the famous quintet her perfect phrasing and clear, steady tone inspired the other singers to give of their best.
45Tannhäuser served to introduce a newcomer, Carl Martin Oehmann, in the title role, but he evidently did not get into his accustomed stride. The great male feature of the evening was the Wolfram of Herbert Janssen, and Elisabeth was nobly represented by lovely Göta Ljungberg.
47ANSEAU STAR OF THE FRENCH DEPARTMENT
49French opera has been represented by Samson and Delilah, Louise and Carmen, and Fernand Anseau's fine tenor saved the first and last from hopeless mediocrity. A French mezzo, new to London, Georgette Frozier-Marrot, was a heavy-voiced and slow-footed heroine in both. Fanny Helly and Franz Kaisin were the two lovers in Charpentier's charming opera and gave a prosaic performance. M. Charles Lauwers, of the Chicago Opera, did the conducting.
51The feature of the Italian part of the season thus far has been the appearance of Rosetta Pampanini, who from all accounts—both from Milan and here—bids fair to become a real star. Thus far she has sung Butterfly under the baton of Vincenzo Bellezza. Dino Borgioli has borne the Italian tenor's burden to date, but Aureliano Pertile is in the offing.
53Covent Garden is not the only place where opera holds sway these days. A short season of light opera,—Mozart, Cimarosa, Schubert(!), etc., is being given at the Court Theater under the management of W. Johnstone-Douglas, who sings the leading baritone roles himself. A rather too farcical production of Cosi fan tutte opened the series, which is becoming an annual feature of the London season.
55CÉSAR SAERCHINGER.
57Heidelberg's Third Festival a Tremendous Success
59Furtwängler and Berlin Philharmonic Applauded to the Echo
61HEIDELBERG.—Heidelberg's recent three-day music festival with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under Furtwängler, was crowned with the same tremendous success that characterized the two preceding festivals.
63The first evening was a Schubert celebration, the program comprising the overture to the Magic Harp, the Unfinished symphony and the C major symphony. The second concert included a perfect performance of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel and Bruckner's Seventh symphony, as well as Haydn's cello concerto by a very young artist, and the festival closed with Mozart's symphony in G minor, Beethoven's Eroica and Bach's Fifth Brandenburg concerto. The soloists in the latter were Furtwängler (piano), Henry Holift (flute) and Albert Harzer (violin).
65Furtwängler's art has become still more mature within the last year. He has attained a mastery in conducting and in tone balancing that ranks him with the greatest. The Berlin orchestra under his leadership has become a unified, ideal instrument. It was applauded to the echo. H. L.
67"The Lady from Louisiana" Recording for Columbia
69Edna Thomas, "The Lady from Louisiana," has just recorded three short spirituals for the Columbia Phonograph Company, I Been 'Buked and I Been Scorned, Gwine-a Lay Down Mah Life for Mah Lord and Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door! Miss Thomas has won an international reputation as diseuse, or singer of Southern spirituals, street cries, and Creole songs, many of which she learned as a girl in her family manor in New Orleans. She has made two world tours, covering Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, and in London holds the record of sixteen consecutive weeks of nightly appearances. This season Miss Thomas returned to America and this spring gave a series of New York recitals and also broadcast for the recent Columbia Phonograph Hour. She will be a feature singer at the Democratic National Convention in Houston. Miss Thomas' voice, listed as soprano, is of very wide range, for she also has a mezzo soprano and even a contralto register. Her diction is another distinction of her art.
71Albert Coates and Bernard Shaw Chumming in Italy
73Albert Coates, distinguished British conductor, who returns to America this summer to conduct at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York and in the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, spends much of his little leisure time at his villa on beautiful Lago Maggiore in Italy. He is here shown with his friend Bernard Shaw, the eminent English author, enjoying a brief holiday (prosaically called vacation on this side of the pond). (1) Coates and Shaw in the garden. (2) Coates, Shaw and Mrs. Coates on the lake. (3) Playing ducks and drakes on the beach. (4) Coates conducting—his yacht.
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