Books › Musical Courier 1928-12-13: Vol 97 Iss 24, 1928 › scan 33
Scan 33
Musical Courier 1928-12-13: Vol 97 Iss 24, 1928
65 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 34. See the scan on archive.org.
1Rozsi Varady to Feature Little Known Works at Her Coming Recital
3Well Known Cellist Talks Interestingly About the Hungarians and Her Own Work
5There are those who feel that the place of the cello, among musical instruments, has lost a certain prestige, which in previous times it enjoyed. There are those also who think it not a very interesting instrument, and still there are those who feel it to be the most eloquent of all instruments, whose deep tones are best able to convey the emotional ideas of an artistic temperament.
7Among the latter may be classified Rozsi Varady, a vivacious Hungarian, who plays the cello with a certain engaging dash and an inherent love for it. Mme. Varady is to give a recital in Engineering Hall on December 17 and has planned a very unique program, the very interesting character of which prompted the writer to ask her about it, and about the little known composers whose works she is featuring.
9In the Haydn Concerto in C, which opens the program, she will have the collaboration of Yolanda Mero, pianist of sympathetic understanding and excellent repute. "This work is not very well known," said Mme. Varady; "the one which is usually played is in D, but I played this particular work at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic under Clemens Krauss, two years ago. At that time it was considerably praised and I hope it will be enjoyed in New York. But the really fascinating part of my program follows with the Zoltan Kodaly sonata which is being performed for the first time here, and two works still in manuscript by Imre Weisshaus; to be really accurate the second of these is by Bela Bartok and the arrangement is by Weisshaus. one of two readings
10In the Haydn Concerto in C, which opens the program, she will have the collaboration of Yolanda Mero, pianist of sympathetic understanding and excellent repute. "This work is not very well known," said Mme. Varady; "the one which is usually played is in D, but I played this particular work at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic under Klemens Krauss, two years ago. At that time it was considerably praised and I hope it will be enjoyed in New York. But the really fascinating part of my program follows with the Zoltan Kodaly sonata which is being performed for the first time here, and two works still in manuscript by Imre Weisshaus; to be really accurate the second of these is by Bela Bartok and the arrangement is by Weisshaus. one of two readings
12"Weisshaus is an ultra modern of the fiercest kind; Bartok really seems classic beside him, especially when one thinks of the Bartok of the earlier days. I cannot tell you how anxious I am to present these works to the American public; I am curious to watch the reaction and to see what will be thought of them. To be prepared for most anything, I think, is the wisest plan because I can appreciate that the works might not be entirely understood at one hearing, and I can appreciate the fact because, as I have played the works many times, I know what it means to become involved in them. However, I do find in them tragic and dramatic expressions which could not be expressed in any other form. The Kodaly sonata is most interesting; this I can assure anyone, after having studied it myself very carefully and having showed it to some international authorities."
14The Fundamental Basis of Hungarian Music
16Having told Mme. Varady that we were always fascinated with Hungarian music, she graciously replied that this was doubtless because all Hungarian music is based on folksongs; "but," explained the cellist, "this must not be mistaken for the Gypsy melodies. The Hungarians had their folk music when they were still in Asia, and they went to Hungary in the year 1000. The Gypsies, on the other hand, invaded the country during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and their folksongs are much younger than those of the real Hungarian. Bartok has recently collected 4,000 of these ancient Hungarian melodies and has woven them into his works. I feel that all the other modern composers are also coming back to the idea of the folksongs, but especially the Hungarian."
18All this was very interesting, and after our brief talk with Mme. Varady we felt that she was indeed an authentic interpreter of this exotic music. Furthermore, she is a member of a very literary and scientific family and has had a background which has enabled her to develop a real message to offer through her art.
20This season she has been busy concertizing throughout the country, and when we saw her she had just returned from Cambridge and Boston where she had played five concerts in four days, at the Harvard Club, the Chilton Club, University Club, Radcliff College, and given a recital for Miss Brooks.
22The study of the cellist reproduced with this little chat was made by Willy Pogany, an artist whose works are frequently seen at the most prominent expositions.
24Lecture Recital at Harcum School
26The Harcum School of Bryn Mawr, Pa., of which Edith Hatcher Harcum is director, has arranged for its students this winter an interesting series of concerts and lectures. The second in this series was the lecture recital recently given by Roy Dickinson Welch, head of the music department of Smith College. It is partly through the influence of Mr. Welch that Smith and other leading colleges have recognized music to the extent of allowing students to present it as an entrance credit. The musical training at the Harcum School meets the requirements of these colleges, and the visit of Mr. Welch did much to prove that the combination of the literary and fine arts could be not only a delightful but also a practical course.
28Mr. Welch made a distinct appeal for more discriminating taste in musical appreciation and urged tolerance for the so-called discordant passages in some of the modern compositions, suggesting that in these very phrases might lie future masterpieces. As an amusing but convincing proof of such a possibility, he played certain well-known bits from Wagner, Beethoven and Debussy which were proclaimed at the time of their appearance as harsh dissonances, worthless and wholly unmusical.
30The girls at Harcum School displayed great interest in Mr. Welch's talk and at its conclusion urged him to play for them. He obliged with a short but delightful program.
32Hughes Heard in Binghamton
34Edwin Hughes' appearance with the Binghamton Symphony Orchestra on December 2, on which occasion he played the Liszt E flat concerto, aroused the enthusiastic acclaim of both press and public. The Binghamton Press wrote of his performance: "Mr. Hughes enthralled his listeners with the Liszt concerto, which gave the artist ample opportunity for brilliant work. He has a firm command of the instrument, his chords are full and resonant, his wrist action is masterly. He gives the impression of playing for the love of playing, and that without a vestige of affectation. The audience was enthusiastic, and Mr. Hughes gave two encores."
36The Binghamton Sun said: "The Liszt concerto in E flat was interpreted with such power and beauty that the pianist was given a tremendous recall. Insistent applause after he had twice bowed his thanks, brought him to the piano to play Henry Cowell's Tides of Mananaun, a medium that afforded a test of tone production which Mr. Hughes fully met. Still another number, Chopin's Waltz in C sharp minor, was played by the noted pianist."
38Mary Seiler in New Studio
40Mary Seiler, harpist, recently returned from Paris, has opened, a new studio on Sixty-second street, New York. She is commencing an active season of concerts, radio engagements and teaching. For several seasons, Miss Seiler has made a specialty of salon musicales for the harp, for she believes that the harp is at its best in the intimate atmosphere of a drawing-room.
42Marion Claire's Interesting Experience
44There are many exciting incidents in the life of an artist back stage, according to Marion Claire, one of the new sopranos with the Chicago Civic Opera Company this season. Miss Claire is an American girl who possesses both beauty and brains, a sufficiently rare combination, but her spectacular success has been won, not by her physical attractions but by sheer merit and hard work.
46"When negotiations were first opened for my appearance at the Staatsoper in Berlin," Miss Claire said, "I was engaged conditionally for one performance, and that was Lohengrin. I had learned the role, but had never sung it, and as it would never have done to acknowledge that I went on without a rehearsal and I do not mind telling you that I had hard work to control my shaking limbs when I first walked out upon the stage. In a little while, Elsa and her dreams had taken so complete possession of me that I forgot everything but what I was singing. At the close of the third act, I had so many curtain calls that I lost count and the manager came back and congratulated me, incidentally signing me up for the following season, as well as the one in which I was then singing. 'Do you know Othello?' he asked. I didn't know a word of the opera but my cue was to say I did. So he told me I would sing it in ten days. Think of that, ten days in which to learn the music, mise-en-scene, etc., of Othello! But I made up my mind to do it and I did. It was while singing this role that I had my first experience of the trials which beset an artist. I was singing with a tenor who was the matinee idol of Dresden and Berlin, a huge man in every way, and very strong. When he caught me in his arms in the great scene in the third act of Othello, he crushed me so with his strong hands, that I screamed with pain. Of course, it made the part very realistic, but it was more than pretense with me. As he threw me on the bed, the curtain was lowered, but I could not move, I was in such intense pain. A doctor was summoned and he found that one of my ribs had been broken, so I spent the next four weeks in bed. After my recovery, they told me at the opera that I had been very lucky, for this artist was so temperamental that he forgot himself in this big scene and one of the sopranos who had sung with him before in this opera had her arm broken and still another her leg. Well, it is only one of the trials of our life which must be borne philosophically, and of course such an accident might have happened in every day life."
48Miss Claire made her Chicago Opera debut as Mimi in La Boheme on November 1.
50Edwin Swain's Concert "A Joy"
52Edwin Orlando Swain, baritone, added another success to his list when he appeared in Indianapolis on November 9. The president of the Matinee Musicale wrote to his manager, Annie Friedberg, that the singer more than filled expectations. "I have not heard him for a number of years and noted a wonderful artistic growth. His concert was a joy as were his encores which were graciously given in response to much enthusiasm."
54Cara Verson Has Busy Schedule
56Cara Verson, pianist, has a busy schedule this month, which takes her to Nebraska, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Minnesota for recitals and lecture-recitals.
58DR. JENO de DONATH
59Conductor-Violinist
60has resumed teaching
61at his Philadelphia studios
62in the Presser Building
63and
644109 Pine Street
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.