Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
upper notes, just as the state of her voice
has been described for the past fifteen
years. It is safe to say that Mme. Patti
will never be heard in public after she is
really unable to sing well. Her recent
action in becoming a British citizen is
thought to bear some relation to the dispo-
sition of her great fortune. One of the
best known legal firms in England looks
after her affairs, and its representatives
not long ago took occasion to deny that
Signor Nicolini had left his private for-
tune to his wife. It went to his children.
Mme. Patti is said to have become very
devout of late, and made several attempts
to reconcile herself to the Church from
which her marriage had alienated her.
During the past few months she has had a
private chaplain in her Welsh castle, and
the permission granted her to do this is
believed to indicate an intention to receive
her again into the Church. She went
about in London society this spring, just
as she has done in the past, and as she has
never done in this country.
*
A FEW months ago Sauer was practically
**• unknown here, except by the mus-
icians, now, although it is three months
previous to his arrival, his name is be-
coming a household word among our best
families and fourteen engagements have
already been closed. We quote below a few
brief extracts from the leading European
papers and some remarks made by well-
known and distinguished authorities:
He possesses God's gift to the artist—a
fiery temperament; he hits apparently
without aiming; he attacks everything
with the courage of youth.—W. Tappert,
Berlin Kleine Journal.
There is nothing far-fetched or raffinis-
tic in his nature, for his fiery tempera-
ment seemed to tear him away from all
regard to his surroundings.—E. E. Tau-
bert, Berlin Post.
Sauer indisputably belongs to the artists
who, by themselves alone, with their own
resources, hold the attention of a spoiled
audience the entire evening.—Ferdinand
Gleich, Dresden Anzeiger.
We say briefly and clearly he is the best
piano player of to-day.—W. Tappert, Ber-
lin Kleine Journal.
His richly shaded touch, strong and
virile even in the softest cantilene, his
technic chiseled out in crystalline clear-
ness, were simply means of expressing the
warmest musical feeling.—Dr. Otto Neit-
zel, Cologne Zeitung.
While brilliant and powerful in all prob-
lems of energetic bravura, he yet played
most beautifully in the tender, musing
poetry of Schumann and Chopin. In this
Sauer is a genuine troubadour of the
piano.—Ed. Hanslick,Vienna Freie Presse.
*
V O U N G composers should not be dis-
*• couraged by failures to obtain recog-
nition for their works. Probably Massenet
is the best known of French operatic com-
posers; but in his own country there are
apparently many difficulties to be over-
come in order to secure the production of
his works. "Cinderella," on which he
was supposed to be at work, was finished
five years ago and until it was accepted by
the management of the Opera Comique
nobody could be found to give the work.
"Griseldis," written in collaboration with
Armand Silvestre, was ready for perform-
ance six years ago. "Cinderella" will
probably be sung during the present win-
ter at the new Opera Comique.
*
SCAR HAMMERSTEIN is destined
to take rank as one of the great
theatre builders and "breakers" of our
time. His experiences in Harlem and with
the Olympia enterprise have not deterred
him from again trying his hand. Last
week he secured a lease of the property at
the corner of Forty-second street and
Seventh avenue where he intends erecting
a theatre which he proposes to call the
"Victoria" in sympathy with the present
spirit of fraternity which is growing be-
tween the peoples of the United States
and England. Oscar is a unique character
O
EMIL SAUER.
—a study. Misfortunes that would have
borne others down seem to rest lightly on
his shoulders, and he speaks as hopefully of
the future as if this were his first venture
in the building and managerial line.
*
\X7ILLY BURMEISTER the great Ger-
"
man master of the violin will reach
this country by the first of October
and will be heard with the leading
symphony orchestras and in concerts and
recitals. Burmeister is a pupil of the
great Joachim.
IN a recent interview Jean DeReszke stated
*• that bicycling, when not indulged in
extravagantly, is most beneficial to the
vocal cords. " I find," said he, "that a
flight through fresh air is soothing to the
throat. My brother also quite agrees with
me in this matter."
*
ING HUMBERT has decreed that the
Milan Conservatory of Music shall
hereafter be called Conservatorio Giusep-
pe Verdi. When Verdi applied for admis-
sion to the school he was rejected after ex-
amination on the ground of " absolute lack
of musical faculty."
T IVERPOOL has started the idea of giv-
*—' ing concerts in the courtyards of the
worst quarters of the city. Musicians
have volunteered and the people for whom
the concerts are given have cleaned up and
decorated the courts. The experiment
has been initiated at Wolverhampton and
will be soon in Manchester,
U
T F the sensational daily papers of the city
1
are to be believed, and they generally
are not, the ashes of the late Anton Seidl
are lying uncalled for and unshrined at
the office of the U. S. Cremation Co., in
this city. It is even stated that his widow
has been written to regarding the matter
several times since his death, but has not
vouchsafed a reply. This neglect of one
of the world's great geniuses, if true, is
extraordinary, in view of the many plans
formulated shortly after his death to pay
honor to his memory.
*
T H E production of " De Janire " in the
1
arena at Beziers took place before an
audience of 10,000 people. It is said to
have been a great triumph for Saint-Saens
as well as for the interpreters. The per-
formance will be repeated at the Odeon on
a much smaller scale during the coming
winter.
*
TGNACE PADEREWSKI has completed
the opera on which he has been at work
for several years. It will be given first in
Dresden. The Paderewski prize at Leipsic
was won this year by a young Pole, who
wrote the best symphony submitted.
•
*
F ON DON is still considering the question
^
of a municipal subvention for the
opera. If the capital of England were
located in Sicily there could be no doubt as
to the outcome. The municipality of
Palermo is at present building an opera-
house at a cost of $2,000,000. The popula-
tion of the country is starving, but music
is considered quite as necessary as bread.
*
D E R L I N is unquestionably one of the
*-* most musically appreciative cities in
the world. The Philharmonic Orchestra
alone gives about 100 concerts each sea-
son, ten of them under Nikisch. The
royal orchestra gives ten under Weingart-
ner, and there are two other orchestras
which give together ten concerts a week.
Last winter there were sixty piano recitals,
twenty-seven violin recitals, and at least
one hundred vocal concerts, besides thirty-
two concerts of chamber music. Among
the violinists heard there last winter were
Joachim, Sarasate, Sauret, Holir, Gregoro-
witsch and Brodsky. Berlin has 118 music
schools and four world-famed conductors
—Nikisch, Muck, R. Strauss and Weingart-
ner.
„,
AMONG the chief novelties (?) of the
^ * coming operatic season will be Gold-
mark's "Queen of Sheba," "Hero and
Leander" and "Sappho." It is signifi-
cant, however, that Mr. Grau in a recent
interview said: "I don't see much use
in producing new pieces, the kind of new
pieces any way one finds nowadays. It
seems to me the public prefers the old
favorites."
*
ENRY SCHRADIECK has been se-
cured by Gilbert R. Combs, director
of the Broad Street Conservatory of Mu-
sic, Philadelphia, as head of the violin de-
partment. Mr. Schradieck is one of the
world's most celebrated teachers,
H