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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
pany. Opera will always have to be sung
well in this town. For that we have to
thank the educational influence which has
proceeded from the Metropolitan since Mr.
Grau and his late partners superseded the
former regime. But the employment of
the vernacular will make the test of good
performance very different from that of
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745—EIGHTEENTH STREET
the present time, and will slowly but sure-
The musical supplement to The Review is ly bring about a revolution in things oper-
published on the first Saturday of each month. atic. This mild piece of prophecy is, of
jV A UCH speculation is being indulged in course, based on the assumption that the
* " * regarding the outcome of the union new plan is to be carried out with wisdom
of the Savage and Grau forces for the pur- and liberality.
It is well to emphasize that the co-part-
pose of giving opera in English at the Met-
ropolitan next season. Performances of nership between Messrs. Grau and Savage
opera in the vernacular always seem an bears no relation to the performances of
approach to a national institution whether grand opera as given at the Metropolitan
they are or not. Opera has been sung in Opera-house by the Maurice Grau Opera
English repeatedly since the experiment Co. There has been no combination of in-
of the American Opera Co. in its splendid terests, no pooling of issues, no merging
attempt, but it cannot be said that any of of companies. There will remain two dis-
its efforts had that essential quality that tinct organizations—the grand opera com-
must necessarily attach to an institution of pany organized as at present, and the new
national character. Merely opera in Eng- company having for its special mission the
lish is not sufficient to claim the attention performance of opera in English, with
of the public on that ground alone. The moderate rates of admission. As the com-
new organization must plan out things on position of the two companies, their res-
spective spheres of activity, their dates,
a different scale, and it doubtless will.
Mr. Grau has long given this matter of &c, will be different, each will have its
English opera earnest consideration, and own constituency. The one will remain
he realizes that if presented properly—and an element in the high social life of the
that means a good orchestra under able community; the other will draw upon
leadership, a large and competent chorus music lovers purely.
and a roster of artists who can sing, and
sing well, in English—it will prove an in- f* ABRILOWITSCH is not the only Rus-
vestment of profit as well as an important ^-* sian who will cut a prominent figure
factor from an educational as well as a musi- in the musical world on this side of the At-
cal viewpoint. Moreover, it should in time lantic next season, for his fellow-country-
lead to the establishment of a permanent man, Charles Gregorowitsch, the distin-
opera here. As Mr. Henderson well says: guished violinist, who was heard in this
The present opera is exotic. The singers country some years ago, is slated to make
Gregorowitsch was
are mostly foreigners, and the company his re-appearance.
is only brought together temporarily. born in St. Petersburg in 1867, and when
But a permanent opera would be one in still of tender years displayed remarkable
which the growth was from within. We musical ability. He commenced by receiv-
should develop our own chorus and bal- ing lessons from his father on the violin,
let, and the singers would for the most and later from the celebrated Prof. Bese-
part be the outcome of a system of de- kirski, of Moscow, with whom he studied
velopment extending throughout the until he was fifteen years old. In that city
whole institution. Instead of "barn- he had opportunity to play before Wien-
storming," as the actors call it, this com- iawski and the master, surprised at the
pany would be able to command the pat- performance, at once offered to give in-
ronage of our public for seven or eight structions to the talented boy, never
months each year. It would be independ- thinking that he was to be his last pupil.
ent of the capricious support of fashion, After Gregorowitsch had mastered what-
and would rest firmly on the interest of ever was to be acquired artistically, in his
the musical public. The opera might, native land, he resolved to visit other
and in these circumstances undoubtedly countries to learn, by observation of great
would, cease to be the idle amusement models, what was still lacking to his artis-
of the society world, and would become a tic knowledge. He went first to Vienna,
regular part of the pleasure of the great where he was under Dont's teaching, and
general public. Thus, in the course of then to Berlin, to have the last touches
time, we would develop a state of affairs made to his already brilliant acquirements
operatic which would place us on ground by Joachim.
similar to that occupied by cities like
Gregorowitsch has already filled a great
Munich and Dresden. But we shall never part of Europe with his fame as a virtuoso
reach that ground while the opera is the and has played among other places at St.
mere fad of the society people and those Petersburg with Sophie Menter, and under
who hope to be of their set, and while Rubinstein's conducting, repeatedly before
most of the other patrons of the enter- the Czar; he gave concerts in Paris, Mad-
tainment neither understand nor care rid, Lisbon, (where his extraordinary per-
what is going on upon the stage as long formance gained for him the Order of
as they can see and hear the world-fa- Christ), Dresden, Berlin, etc. Wherever
mous singers who constitute the com- he appeared he took by storm the public
and the press by the magic of his playing
and his sympathetic personality. An ex-
cellent portrait of the celebrated Grego-
rowitsch appears on the cover page of this
issue.
I T is like harping on an old string, but
* ) evertheless the majority of story
writers who are rather particular not to
make themselves ridiculous in describing
incidents connected with the arts, trades,
and sciences, will blunder when referring
to musical matters. They apparently
throw prudence to the winds and "every-
thing goes." For example, it is alleged of
the heroine of a popular novel that she
seated herself at a piano in a dimly lighted
parlor and enchanted her listeners by play-
ing several of "Auber's plaintive symphon-
ies." In another story a beautiful young
girl with a deep contralto voice performs
the remarkable feat of singing Schumann's
"Warum." And we are told in the Cos-
mopolitan Magazine for February of a
male vocalist of such wondrous accom-
plishments that he was able to sing "con-
secutive fifths" with ease. The musical
person, smiling and shuddering at these
statements, will wonder why authors should
abandon themselves to such riotous blun-
dering in matters pertaining to music, and
why edrors and publishers do not employ
musical censors charged with the duty of
seeing that the blunders do not get into
print.
T H E committee in charge of the musical
* arrangements of the nineteenth Na-
tional singing festival and the fiftieth
anniversary of the Northeastern Saenger-
bund, which will be celebrated simultane-
ously in this city during the first days of
July next, to-day transmitted to the judges
275 compositions, one of which will be
rendered by the societies competing for
the prize given by the German Emperor
for the occasion. The name of the vic-
torious composer will be made public to-
day or Monday, his work, however, is to
be kept under lock and key by the judges
until shortly before the festival, when
the song will be sent to all societies de-
sirous to compete. It is a remarkable
fact, and speaks volumes for the interest
which the coming event has aroused in
musical circles all over the world, that
fully 80 per cent, of the compositions have
been submitted by European musicians.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, and
even Scandinavia have contributed their
share of men eager to have their compo-
sitions sung before the American and Ger-
man-American audiences, which will fill
the Thirteenth Regiment Armory, where
the concerts are to take place. The fact
that the German Emperor's special prize
will be awarded to the society victorious
in the battle of voices, to be fought to the
strains of the song that will be adjudged
the best of the 275 and will be awarded a
prize of $125, naturally lent additional in-
ducements to the competing composers.
Great secrecy is being maintained by the
managers of the festival about everything
regarding the composition; not even the
judges are known. They were appointed