Music Trade Review

Issue: 1899 Vol. 29 N. 15

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Rusticana," with Mme. Sembrich, and in
either "I Pagliacci" or "La Fille du Regi-
ment. "
*
T H E most remarkable cast presented
* during the entire season will sing
Mozart's "II Flauto Magico." Nine prima
donnas will draw the public with a potency
that Mozart's work would never possess if
it were sung in the fashion common abroad.
It was given nearly forty times last sum-
mer by an opera company that contained
T H E advance guard of . Grau's opera not one singer of eminence, but the audi-
* forces have been arriving in the city ences were satisfied with the work and did
this week, commanding the usual notices not demand that all its interpreters should
from our enterprising newspaper men. be stars. Mme. Sembrich, who is consid-
According to present arrangements they ered the greatest Mozart singer of her
will make an artistic raid on several of the time, will be the "Queen of the Night,"
smaller cities, giving single performances, Mme. Eames should be a beautiful sight as
and gradually recruiting itself by later ac- "Tamina," and Zelie de Lussan ought to
cessions until it reaches Chicago, and then be well suited to the role of "Papagena."
after a brief season there conies to New
York in its full strength.
New Haven is to have the first per-
formance on Monday, Oct. 9—Calve in
•'Faust." Springfield will be the second
halt in the tour, and there on Tuesday,
Oct. 10, Sembrich, whose success at the
Worcester Festival last week was most
emphatic, will sing in "The Barber of
Seville."
As a prelude to this campaign a concert
will be given at the Metropolitan Opera-
House to-morrow night. The singers will
be Suzanne Adams, Andreas Dippel and
Giuseppe Campanari, and Emil Paur will
conduct the orchestra. Mme. Nevada will
be heard first on Nov. 12 in another series
of concerts which begin on that night at
the Metropolitan.
* *
home concerts: Mmes. Sembrich, Terni-
na, Miss Aus der Ohe, Mme. Bloomfield-
Zeisler, Miss Heyman, Miss Leonora
Jackson, Miss Ruegger, Messrs. Paderew-
ski, Dohnanyi, Petschnikoff, Hambourg,
Kneisel, Schroeder, Loeffler and Adamow-
ski. This announcement contains the first
authoritative statement that the already
famous young pianist, Dohnanyi, is com-
ng to this country.
P M M A CALVE posed for the statue
*—' which is to ornament her tomb, just
before she sailed for this country. She
went up to Paris from Cabrieres dressed
herself as Ophelia, and assumed the atti-
tude in which she wants to be perpetiiated.
Maurice Grau is to make once more the in-
teresting experiment that has so far met
with little success. Mile. Calve's great
talents are appreciated by the critics in
every role; but for the public there are
but two operas in which she is interesting.
These are, of course, " Carmen " and
"Faust." The list of works in which she
has been heard is rather long for the
Metropolitan, but scarcely one of them has
ever reached more than two or three repre-
sentations. Beginning with "L'Amico Fritz"
the list includes "Hamlet," "Les Pecheurs
de Perles," "La Navarraise" and "Mefisto-
fele" among others. But the piiblic re-
mained away until Mile. Calve appeared as
the heroine of the Bizet or the Gounod
opera, in which her drawing powers were
always great. This year Mr. Grau is to
see what can be done with Massenet's
"Herodiade," which has never been sung
in this city, and is indeed heard rarely any-
where. Cherubino and Juliette will not be
sufficient to alternate with the roles in
which Mile. Calve is popular, and so "He-
rodiade" has been selected because that
opera provides also a good role for M.
Saleza. Mme. Mantelli and MM. Plancon
and Scotti are to be in the cast. Mile.
Calve will, of course, sing in "Cavalleria
will not give the performances all their
quality. In "II Flauto Magico," for in-
stance, MM. Saleza, Edouard de Reszke
and Pini-Corsi will appear.
*
M A R K HAMBOURG'S first recital at
* * * Knabe Hall will occur about Nov.
11, a few days after his appearance with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra which is
set for Nov. 8.
*
A CRITICISM which may be quoted as
**• throwing a new light upon certain
forms of music appeared recently in the
Sydney "Bulletin." It was written, no
doubt, by an Australian of the impression-
ist school, and is almost equal to some of
the work of his confreres in this country:
"Curly-headed Louis Hattenbach, the 'cel-
list, appeared at the Brahms concert. An
evening of Brahms music might be expect-
ed to be headachy; for Brahms is, above
all others, an intellectual musician. In
Brahms's concerted music the instruments
seem to be constantly arguing with each
other, as in Beethoven. The argument
starts in the allegro movement; heads are
broken and the combatants jump on each
other in the allegretto; and in the final
movement they trudge off to the hospital,
arguing all the way."

T H E London Daily News remarks that
* "the fact that the leading British
opera composers — Sullivan, Mackenzie,
McCunn, Stanford, and the rest—are ig-
nored at Covent Garden is probably not
the fault of the management; for the last
word in such matters is mainly with the
leading vocalists, who, as a rule, do not
speak English." That is the trouble in
America, too, wherefore the outlook for
our opera-composers (if we have any) is
not bright. There are plenty of first-class
prima-donnas who could sing an opera in
English, but tenors and basses are scarce.
EMMA NEVADA.
The remaining six prima donnas are Mmes.
Schumann-Heink, Ternina and Mantelli,
who will sing the three ladies, while the
three genii will be Mmes. Adams, Olitzka
and Broadfoot. The season offers the
promise of some interesting revivals.
Nikolai's "The Merry Wives of Windsor,"
which has not been given here in years,
could be presented with a splendid cast.
Mme. Sembrich and Schumann-Heink
have frequently sung in the opera together
abroad; Theodore Bertram is a famous
"Falstaff" in his own country and Fritz
Fredricks, the famous "Beckmesser" of
Bayreuth, has made some of his greatest
successes in Nikolai's work. The dialogue
is the only drawback to the performance of
the opera. In the Italian versions of the
work recitative is used, and in case the
opera is sung, will certainly be used.
Mme. Eames, who has completed her
study of "Aida, ' may be heard in that
opera during the year. There is every
promise of a brilliant season whether all
plans for a new performance are carried
out or not. "Lucrezia Borgia" is even dis-
cussed as a Saturday night possibility, with
Mmes. Schumann-Heink and Ternina in the
principal roles. In spite of Jean de Resz-
ke's possible absence, the women alone
' ' A S for those who admire or profess ad-
/"\ miration for the 'Master Lunatic of
Music,' it is a significant fact, says the
expert, that, 'whereas, there is a brigade
of musicians, all lunatics, detained in Ger-
man mad-houses, every last man of them,
when questioned on that point, professed
himself a loyal adherent and admirer of
Wagner.'"—Conservative Review.
Are philosophers and critics to be in-
cluded? If so, this "expert" overlooks the
case of Nietzsche. He is in a madhouse
and he hates Wagner.
*
T H E R E are five thousand theatres in the
1
United States if we count all kinds,
writes Franklin Fyles, in the first of a
series of articles on "The Theatre and Its
People," in the October "Ladies Home
Journal." More than two thousand are
fairly classable as legitimate, and over
one thousand more are devoted to vaude-
ville. The two thousand others taper off
in various ways. To estimate the capital
invested in all this theatrical property
is difficult. But about $100,000,000 is in-
vested in the three thousand first-class
legitimate theatres which will be consider-
ed in this article. That is an average of
$33,333 each, which is low enough, some
costing as much as $500,000 each. It is
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
equally hard to compute the money paid
by Americans for theatrical amusement.
Separate audiences yield from absolutely
nothing, in extreme cases of failure, to as
much as $20,000 at an exceptional perfom-
ance of opera. A conservative calculation
is that the aggregate reaches $70,000,000
a year. Not less than one and a half mil-
lion persons sit in these theatres each week-
day night in the season of at least eight
months.
*
A N enterprising young woman of this
• city has opened up a studio on Fifth
avenue with the object of teaching accom-
panying. It is entitled "A School of Ac-
companying," and seems to be meeting
with no small measure of success. "Every
one knows that to read music readily is the
first essential for an accompanist," says
Miss Dunn, the principal of this institu-
tion, "but no matter how able or fluent a
woman might be in this regard—I say
woman, because nearly all accompanists
are women—if she did not have the cool-
ness and the tact to do the right thing in
emergency she would not fill the place.
"The effective requisites for the profes-
sion are sympathy—of course with thor-
ough music knowledge for a groundwork
—tact and adaptability. The successful
accompaniment player must be subservient,
must be content to be merely a background,
but at the same time the most versatile and
responsive of backgrounds. She must have
a warm heart and a cool head. The reason
that men are not popular, or, as a rule,
successful, accompanists, is because they
lack the unassertiveness and pliancy of a
woman player. The man with ability
enough to be an accompanist is apt to seek
more prominence, and, anyhow, the mas-
culine touch is too positive. Accompany-
ing is essentially a woman's field and one
occupation at least that she is not likely to
be supplanted in. It pays well to the
proper practitioner.
"The musical directory of New York
shows from 40 to 50 professional ac-
companists, while the list of resident and
visiting singers likely to need such service
runs away up into the hundreds. More-
over, not all of these accompanists are
satisfactory by any means, so the experts
have all the work they can do and more,
and many singers and managers have to
put up with accompanists that are either
draw backs or just makeshifts."
*
A SERIES of Sunday night concerts will
**• begin at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 5,
under the management of Mr. Victor
Thrane. The Kaltenborn Orchestra will
be employed and the soloists will include
Petschnikoff, Mark Hambourg, Frances
Saville, Elsa Ruegger, Leonora Jackson,
Voight and Katherine Bloodgood.
*
C M I L PAUR, who returned recently
•—' from his European vacation, has the
following to say of his plans for the pres-
ent season; "I shall conduct at the Met-
ropolitan the entire Wagnerian cycle, be-
ginning with 'Rienzi' and concluding
with 'Parsifal,'" he said. "This will be
followed by an elaborate production of
'Fidelio,' which, too, I shall conduct.
"I shall lead also the opening Philhar-
monic concerts in New York. Besides
this I have taken the directorship of the
National Conservatory of Music, which
will give four concerts at Madison Square
Garden during the operatic season. Be-
fore the season opens I may make a trip
of a few weeks with my orchestra through
the leading cities.
"I hope that the orchestra will be much
advanced over last year. I have in mind
many changes. As head of the first vio-
lins, or as 'concert master,' I will have
Nahan Franko."
Mr. Paur was asked about the report
from Germany that Dr. Muck, of the
"O Deus Optime," dated about 1688. The
melody may have been by Henry Carey or
Dr. John Bull, whose "Ayre" was played
on the organ before James I., at Merchant
Taylors Hall, in July, 1607, or a develop-
ment of an older tune. But it certainly
was not by Lully. That the nuns of St.
Cyr, who were supposed to have made the
ridiculous affidavit in 1819, (Lully died in
1687,) may have been acquainted with the
tune, is most probable, considering that in
the latter part of the last century it was the
State tune of almost every country in
Europe. In Denmark it was "Heil dir
dem liebenden," in Prussia and all
North Germany it was "Heil Dir, im
Siegerkranz," in Wei-
mar it was "Brause du
Freiheit Sang," in Aus-
tria it was the national
anthem until Hadyn
composed his sublime
tune, in Russia it was
the State hymn until
1833 it was superseded
by the anthem of Lwoff,
in Switzerland it still
figures as "Rufst du,
mein Vaterland," in
Sweden it is still the
State tune, while it is
also one of the National
hymns of America, as
set to the beautiful
words of the Unitarian
minister Charles Tim-
othy Brooks, beginning
"God bless our native
land, Firm may she ever
stand, Through storm
and night."
has
D R. just RICHTER
signed a fresh
contract with the au-
thorities of the Imperial
Opera, Vienna, extend-
ing to the end of 1904.
He reserves the right to
conduct at Manchester
MARKZHAMBOURG.
the Halle Concerts dur-
Royal Opera in Berlin, was to come over ing a portion of next winter, and to direct
this season as conductor for Mr. Grau. his Autumn and Winter concerts in Eng-
"I have a letter from Mr. Grau," he land, given annually under the manage-
replied, "in which he denies that he has ment of Mr. Vert. He may also conduct
in 1901 at Baireuth, but this would, of
made any offer to Muck."
course, be in the vacation. Otherwise,
*
for the next five years he will devote him-
'T'HE American and Italian papers, says
self to Vienna, while after January, 1905,
* the Daily News of London, h a v e -
when he will be well past sixty, he will
sure sign of the silly season—trotted out
probably be thinking of retirement.
once more the question of the origin of
*
"God Save the Queen," and the venerable
claim in the souvenirs of the Malrquise de P R O M Rome comes the report that Verdi
Crequy that the tune was the work of Lully *• has given up all idea of writing any
and the words by Mme. de Brinon. Prof. more operas, but has been engaged for
Paul Robert has, for some reason, reopened some time on his memoirs, which will soon
the question, but more than half a century be completed. He spoke about his inten-
ago the so-called "Souvenirs" were proved tion to write such a book to a friend sev-
to be a clumsy and audacious forgery, eral years ago, explaining that what im-
probably the work, in 1834, of one Cousen pelled him to undertake this task was less
de St. Malo. Whoever was the real author the desire to tell the story of his life than
of the words of what Mr. Gilbert calls ' 'our to explain to the world how he came to
illiterate national anthem," has not much change his operatic principles so completely
to brag about, although it is possible they in his latter period. His attitude towards
may be an adaptation of the Latin lines, Wagner, whom he acknowledges as his

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