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U
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
nary difficulty. Indeed at the present
time nothing seems impossible to this
clever organization, and the purchase by
Mr. Savage of the scenery, property and
fixtures of the operas given by the Ellis
Opera Co. last season portend a number of
important productions on ambitious lines
by the Castle Square Opera Co. during the
winter.
*
IN adherence to the established policy
of the Company the program will be
changed every Monday evening. The
season's repertoire as already announced
is most catholic in character and includes
works of the old school—Verdi's "Ernani,"
"Masked Ball," "Rigoletto," and "Trova-
tore;" Donizetti's "Lucia," Auber's "Fra
Diavolo," Mozart's "Don Giovanni," Flo-
tow's "Martha," Balfe's "Bohemian Girl"
and Meyerbeer's "Star of the North;"
music-dramas—Wagner's '' Tannhauser,"
"Lohengrin," "Flying Dutchman" and
"Meistersinger;" samples of the neo-
Italian school—Puccini's "La Boheme,"
Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Mascagni's
"Cavalleria Rusticana; " and for the pur-
pose of contrast comic operas by Offen-
bach—" Princess of Trebizonde ; " Au-
dran's "La Mascotte," Sullivan's "Yeomen
of the Guard," "The Gondoliers" and
"Iolanthe." For the sake of tradition and
to satisfy all, the list also includes the
three great favorites of the public—
Gounod's "Faust," his "Romeo and Ju-
liet" and Bizet's "Carmen."
This offering is certainly a most extraor-
dinary one. It speaks well for the enter-
prise of the company and it promises much
for its utility in the propaganda for good
music. The fulfilment of this promise will
depend entirely on the degree of artistic
merit attained in the performances.
*
D I C H A R D BURMEISTER, whose por-
*^ trait appears on the cover page of
this issue, has been one of the prominent
figures at the Maine Musical Festival which
opened Monday last in Portland, and which
closes to-night in Bangor with a concert
that will be the crowning effort of the en-
tire Festival. At this musical feast Mme.
Sembrich and Burrheister will be heard.
The latter will play Liszt's famous concer-
to "Pathetique" in E minor, arranged by
Mr. Burmeister for one piano and orches-
tra—a scoring which is universally consid-
ered to be as brilliant and as effective as it
is musicianly.
At Portland on Tuesday and at Bangor
yesterday afternoon Richard Burmeister
was heard alone in Senta's ballad from
Wagner's "Flying Dutchman," in Chopin's
"Prelude" and "Nocturne" and in Liszt's
"Hungarian Rhapsody." His brilliant
style and masterly interpretation evoked
the greatest enthusiasm, and all who at-
tended conceded that a most judicious se-
lection was made when Mr. Burmeister
was chosen as one of the leading attrac-
tions. The truth of a statement made by
a European paper was demonstrated, viz. :
"He is a pianist full of spirit and fantasy,
who puts his extraordinary talents only to
the service of genuine art—a pianist who
belongs to the school which places musical
expression in the first rank, and never sac
rifices it to mere artificial skill, yet no one
can deny that he commands an excellent
technique."
Richard Burmeister is a native of Ham-
burg, Ger., where he was born in Decem-
ber, i860. He studied with Liszt for three
years and went with him to Rome, Wei-
mar and Budapest. Apart from his con-
cert work which won for this accomplished
and brilliant pianist so much critical praise
in Europe, he was actively connected with
the Conservatory of Music in his native
city. Mr. Burmeister's fame having spread
to the United States he was engaged for
the Peabody Institute at Baltimore and
later became connected with the Schar-
composer-pianist replied: "No, I shall not
come. I know by experience the damp
cold of Germany in November and Decem-
ber, and I do not propose to expose my-
self to it again. I begin to find the heat
of tropical regions insufficient. I plainly
see the time coming when only hell or
purgatory will warm me a little."
J\A ISSMARTINA JOHNSTONE, thefa-
' " * mous Swedish violiniste whose por-
trait appears elsewhere on this page, is a
graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music
of Stockholm, where she received the first
prize from the hand of the King of Sweden,
and was a private pupil for four years of
the famous violin virtuoso, Prof. Emile
Sauret, in Berlin. In
the latter city she played
in many concerts—before
the l a t e
Empress
Augusta of Germany, the
Princess of Saxe-Mein-
ingen, and other mem-
bers o f the Imperial
Court. She had also the
honor to play often for
the late Field Marshal
Count von Moltke, in
whose house she was
frequently a guest. Miss
Johnstone was the solo
violinist in Soiisa's Band
for two seasons, and
recently completed with
it the great trans-conti-
nental tour of 21,000
miles. Chas. L. Young,
her manager, is booking
quite a number of en-
gagements for the season
of 1899-1900.
have discovered
T 1 HEY
in Berlin that an
MARTINA JOHNSTONE.
wenka Conservatory of Music of this city
of which he is now director. As a teacher
he has been most successful. He is con-
scientious and thorough in his methods,
and he is the enemy of superficialities.
In his recitals this week, Mr. Burmeister
played a magnificent Everett concert
grand, of which he is an ardent admirer.
The remarkable tonal qualities of this
creation, so fully tested by some of the
most trying selections in pianoforte litera-
ture, afforded not only delight to those
present, but it was the subject of much
comment of a very favorable nature from
the eminent musicians in attendance at the
festival.
Richard Burmeister's exceptional talents
should win for him a large measure of ap-
preciation in the concert field this season.
He is a progressist, with a catholicity of
mind and a technical equipment, which
will enable him to hold a sure place not-
withstanding the appearance of the host of
celebrities from European shores.
*
TJERMAN WOLF, the well-known man-
* * ager at Berlin, invited lately Saint-
Saens to give concerts in that city. The
otherwise excellent cor-
net player, who stam-
mers in speech and cannot enunciate words
beginning with a "b" or a "d," also stam-
mers at the beginning of a musical phrase.
As yet the learned have found no cure.
*
. BARTH, of Koslin, has written a
pamphlet to show that singing has
not only an artistic value, but is a promoter
of health. It deepens the respiration, ex-
ercises the capacity of the lungs, and
strengthens the muscles. The appetite
and thirst are increased, the movements of
the diaphragm and abdominal muscles aid
digestion, the larynx and nasal passages are
benefitted, the hearing becomes more acute.
In short, singing is a prophylactic against
chronic lung troubles, heart complaints
and anaemia.
DADEREWSKI is still busily engaged
*- in the completion of his long-heralded
operatic work, and he expects to bring it
out in Dresden before the end of Novem-
ber, when he sails for America. It is also
reported that the distinguished pianist-
composer has arranged for the production
of this opera in the United States during
his visit here.