Scan 8
Musical Courier 1928-12-13: Vol 97 Iss 24, 1928
47 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 9. See the scan on archive.org.
1December 13, 1928
2MUSICAL COURIER
3London's Newspapers Celebrate Franz Schubert Centenary
4E Flat Mass and Song of Miriam Heard—Elena Gerhardt Gives Schubert Series—Young American Pianist Scores—A Flood of Chamber Music—And New Works
5LONDON.—As in the case of the Beethoven Centenary last year, London has been holding an intensive, if unofficial, Schubert celebration—in the newspapers. For the past fortnight, these alleged moulders of the public mind have indulged their sentimental imaginations to the utmost and filled their columns with information about the Viennese composer, which, for the most part, was as untrue as it was romantic. But the public mind, as exemplified by performing artists, has revealed a grievous disinclination to be moulded and, as a result, comparatively little Schubert music has been heard in the concert halls.
6BUNYAN VS. SCHUBERT
7The British Broadcasting Corporation, indeed, celebrated his centenary together with—Bunyan's tercentenary in one grand wash-up at the Queen's Hall. It was the fourth concert of their regular series and the debut of the new B. B. C. chorus. Granville Bantock had been invited not only to conduct the concert but to write an oratorio on the Pilgrim's Progress for the occasion.
8According to the program notes, Mr. Bantock, being a busy man, had had to complete the work in four months, a fact, which—again quoting the program notes—"recalls the feats of Mozart and Schubert." Unfortunately all further similarity was conspicuous by its absence and we could only wish that the work had required more of Bantock's time and less of the public's; it lasted nearly two hours. Schubert being dead only one-third as long as Bunyan, he required less time to be remembered, and it was his little B flat major symphony, No. 5, which was performed. Although an early work (Schubert was twenty when he wrote it) it has "drive" and a pristine charm which make it quite as worthy of performance as the early Mozart works which Beecham has been reviving.
9It is natural that in the land of choral singers Schubert's compositions of this genre should be among the first to be revived. The Royal Philharmonic Society gave a fair performance of the E flat major Mass under Sir Hugh Allen (Sir Hamilton Harty, who should have conducted, being ill), and the Royal Choral Society performed the Song of Miriam. In each case the singing was the better part of the performance.
10CELEBRATION FOR DAME ETHEL—AND SCHUBERT
11But here, again, as at the B. B. C. concert, the Schubert celebration played a secondary part, Dame Ethel Smyth's Mass in D being the chief attraction. It is the year of the venerable Dame's seventieth birthday and she is being justly feted in her own country. In spite of the king's illness, Queen Mary was present and listened to an unusually good performance under Malcolm Sargent.
12An orchestral concert that was devoted entirely to Schubert, however, was the second of Robert Mayer's series for children. These concerts have the advantage of a small, picked orchestra, which has long been the best in London, of an enthusiastic backer and an equally enthusiastic and capable conductor, Malcolm Sargent. With such a combination it is small wonder that an all-Schubert program should have attracted several hundred more listeners than could be accommodated.
13Two chamber music ensembles have paid their tribute. Cortot, Thibaud, and Casals drew about eight thousand people to the Albert Hall—in one of the worst storms London has known—to hear the B flat major trio, and the Léner Quartet, which may soon be heard in New York, devoted one of their chamber music series to the D minor quartet (Death and the Maiden) and the Octet. Also Yelly d'Aranyi, in the miscellaneous program of her recent recital, included Schubert's Rondo Brillant.
14SINGERS TO THE FORE
15But the singers, as a class, have made the best showing, and of these, Elena Gerhardt is making the most festival-like contribution. She is giving a series of four Schubert concerts—two of which have already taken place with great success. Songs from the Schwanengesang, all the Goethe settings, the whole Winterreise and a number of unfamiliar songs as well as many old favorites make up the programs. Schubert's most popular cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin, she left to her brother, Reinhold Gerhardt, who made his London debut on this occasion. A voice of unusually lovely quality and excellent diction were rather offset by a tendency to over-sentimentalize. He had a full house, however, and a real success.
16An unusually musical, intelligent, and moving performance of the same cycle was given by the young English singer, Mark Raphael, who has once before been praised in these columns. He is fulfilling the promise of his debut and already belongs to that very small band of genuinely interesting lieder singers. Another baritone who attracted a large and thoroughly appreciative audience, was Reinhold von Warlich. His program comprised no less than the complete Schwanengesang and the Moussorgsky cycle, Sans Soleil, both of which, so far as I know, were thus heard in London for the first time within memory. Warlich was at his best in the second group, which made a profound impression. His partner at the piano was the well-known composer, Philipp Jarnach.
17PASSING TRIBUTES
18Other singers have paid passing tributes. Elisabeth Schumann included two groups of interesting Schubert songs at her first London recital this season; a recital, by the way, that packed the Queen's Hall on a Saturday afternoon. Myra Mortimer, American contralto, also had a group of practically unknown Schubert songs, including Heimliches Lieben, Der Wanderer an den Mond, Selige Welt and Die Gestirne. Most of the rest of her program was equally courageous and praiseworthy. Four old English and five comparatively unfamiliar songs by Hugo Wolff made one regret the group of American trifles at the end which formed a distinct anti-climax. Myra Mortimer's big beautiful voice unfortunately gave the impression of unwieldiness, due to the lack of a clear attack and to very audible breathing. It would be a pity for such a singer not to correct these two small faults when she has so much else at her command. For, besides the unusual volume and quality of her voice, she has excellent diction, a perfect pronunciation of both English and German (two very rare qualities for an American), seriousness of purpose and real charm.
19A BROADCASTED CELEBRATION
20But while London concert goers have, with few exceptions, heard only scrappy or inadequate performances of Schubert's works, the vast, invisible audience reached by the broadcasting artists have not been similarly deprived. Hardly a day has passed, for several weeks, that some of the master's music has not been sent forth to—one hopes—eager listeners. Works for piano, for violin, and for orchestra, vocal music and chamber music have all been struggling with Morse signals and statics, to say nothing of the baby cyclones that are the latest thing in English weather. If, after this year, there is a man, woman or child within reach of British sending stations who does not know who Franz Schubert was, it will not be the fault of the B. B. C.
21The proportions which the flood of non-Schubert concerts has taken on, place them beyond all possibility of being adequately dealt with in this letter. As usual, there have been pianists galore, including Paderewski, whose rhythmic aberrations and dynamic brutalities would cause him to be promptly and thoroughly snubbed, were he a young man starting out afresh. But his gray hairs and past triumphs have put him in the class of unassailable heroes, not only with the vast audience which crowds to hear—and cheer—him at the Albert Hall, but with the mighty press as well. Pachmann is just as universally beloved and Levitzki, too, though still young, has already created a snug nest of popularity which he will be able to occupy with little further effort for the rest of his life.
22Nicolas Medtner has thoroughly "caught on" here both as pianist and composer. A recital of his piano works and songs (expressively sung by Tatiana Makushina) aroused extraordinary enthusiasm from the large audience and a number of the leading critics. Ernest Newman even goes so far as to say that he is the only one among living composers who "has the combination of imagination and technic necessary to continue the masterly work of Wolf." one of two readings
23Nicolas Medtner has thoroughly "caught on" here both as pianist and composer. A recital of his piano works and songs (expressively sung by Tatiana Makushina) aroused extraordinary enthusiasm from the large audience and a number of the leading critics. Ernest Newman even goes so far as to say that he is the only one among living composers who "has the combination of imagination and technic necessary to continue the masterly work of Wolff." one of two readings
24BEVERIDGE WEBSTER'S SUCCESS
25Beveridge Webster, an American youngster whose pianistic fame is beginning to spread, startled a London audience recently with his almost uncanny technic, his intuitively musical, even though youthfully exaggerated interpretations, and apparently unlimited power. The results of his bold attempt on Schumann's G minor sonata showed great promise, while simpler works, like Ravel's Jeux d'eau and Chabrier's Bourée Fantasque, whose spiritual contents are within his grasp, were re-created with a truly remarkable musical insight and imagination. If Webster resists the tempting path of sheer pianistic virtuosity there is little doubt that he will develop into a really great pianist.
26THREE HARPSICHORDS AND THEIR SUCCESSES
27It must have been an unusually powerful set of magnetic waves that brought three harpsichord recitals within four days. Wanda Landowska, who gave the first, is so well known that one needs only to mention her name to conjure up the picture of a harpsichord. Her recent illness, which has induced her to cancel her second concert, may also have accounted for a certain hardness of tone that she displayed for the first time. Otherwise her playing was as brilliant as ever.
28Less of a virtuoso, but perhaps more seriously musical, is Alice Ehlers, her quondam pupil, who three days later made her London debut with marked success. Her concert had the added interest of sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century songs and duets beautifully sung in perfect style by Martha and Marietta Amstad, to harpsichord accompaniments. A Marcello-Bach harpsichord concerto and a Bach-Elbel fugue were two of the most interesting works on an interesting program.
29The third harpsichordist, Violet Gordon Woodhouse, is very popular in London partly, perhaps, because she plays so seldom and partly because she dresses to match the quaint outlines of the instrument. One has the sensation of being in an antique shop and being asked to make due allowance for the age of the offered "bibelots."
30M. S.
31MOOR'S DOUBLE-KEYBOARD PIANO IN CONCERT
32A modern successor of the harpsichord, the Moor double-keyboard piano, was "demonstrated" at a Queen's Hall concert.
33(Continued on page 18)
34Monteux Conducts Opera in Amsterdam
35Jane Bourguignon an Ideal Carmen—Hollanders Dislike Bartok Concerto—John Powell's Success
36AMSTERDAM.—Pierre Monteux has added to his activities as a symphonic conductor those of an operatic conductor; and it was he who wielded the baton at the excellent performance of Carmen given by the Wagner Society a short time ago. The title role was sung by Jane Bourguignon, who made an exotic, bewitching cigarette girl, vocally and histrionically ideal in the part. Marcel Journet was an imposing Escamillo and René Lapelletrie an excellent Don José, especially in the last act when he rose to great heights. The minor parts were all admirably filled, not to mention the chorus, which showed the happy results of thorough drilling. André Bol, who made the scenery, created a Seville that was strange and fantastic, a perfect setting for the gorgeously colored costumes especially designed by Vera Sondeikina. But a large part of the credit for the superior quality of the performance went to Monteux.
37A NEW RUSSIAN VIOLINIST
38There have been several of the bi-weekly concerts at the Concertgebouw since our last letter. Two interesting artists who are well worth mentioning have appeared with the orchestra. One is Nathan Milstein, a youthful Russian violinist, who electrified his audience with Glazounoff's concerto, in which he displayed an extraordinary technical assurance and subtlety of rhythm.
39Too Advanced
40The other artist was Bartok, who played his own piano concerto to ears which, for the most part, were unwilling. In fact, we can truthfully say that we did not like the concerto because we could not understand it. We hope to grow. In any case, he was regarded with much respect and had a succès d'estime.
41John Powell
42John Powell, the American pianist, has played his Negro Rhapsody and won a great success. A second soloist on the same program appeared with him, namely Bertha Serven, and sang three songs of Ravel with great finesse. She is a worthy artist who has the rare ability of creating an atmosphere. She was masterfully supported by Monteux and the orchestra.
43The Fisk Jubilee Singers
44The great interest taken here in negro singers was evinced by the size of the audience which gathered to hear the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The spirituals which they sang comprised the greater part of the program and there was a certain monotony in such abundance. Best of all was one of the psalms which was beautifully sung. They had a great success.
45Dr. Ludwig Wüllner, who is celebrating his seventieth birthday this year, honored the centenary by giving a Schubert evening. His personality is as imposing as ever and he appeared like a prophet of old—an imposing figure. He was accompanied by Coenraad Bos, who earned a worthy share of the great success.
46K. S.
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