Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1903 Vol. 37 N. 14

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SYMPHONY CONCERTS AT METROPOLITAN.
RELATIONS OF PULSE AND RHYTHM.
I J E I N R I C H CONRIED'S plan of giving I S there a pulse temperament to com-
symphony concerts of a serious mu-
posers? In the September Popular Sci-
sical character every Sunday night at the ence Monthly, Mary Hallock, pianiste and
Metropolitan Opera House is, in the opin- writer on musical themes, advances a the-
ion of many persons, the only means of re- ory which has existed nebulously in the
viving interest in the Sunday night con- minds of musical people for centuries. As
certs. The public interest in these affairs long ago as the fourth century before
has declined steadily during the past few Christ, men sought to explain the rhythmic
years, and last season they were scantily at- repetition of sound both in insect and ani-
tended except when one or two of the mal life; and rhythm with the beat of the
great singers were announced. The ex- pulse.
pense of having the stars sing was always
Miss Hallock has found by endless study
so large that the management made little and research that all rhythmic repetitions
profit. The programmes were rather popu-
lar in character as a rule, and the manage-
ment made no attempt at a very high musi-
cal standard.
But the fifteen Sunday concerts to be
given this year will be of quite a different
nature. Felix Mottl has already made
programmes for half the season and sent
them to Mr. Conried. Some idea of the
general plan of the concerts may be gath-
ered from the programme for the opening
night.
That will include the overture to "Die
Meistersinger," Berlioz's "Roman Carni-
val," a soloist, and Beethoven's "Eroica"
symphony. That sounds more like the Phil-
harmonic or the Boston Symphony pro-
gramme than the kind played formerly
at the Metropolitan for a Sunday
crowd. It will be interesting to see the re-
sult of the experiment.
Other programmes will be devoted to
the works of certain composers. For the
Schubert evening, the soloists who will
sing the Lieder are Mme. Sembrich and
Anton van Rooy, and the Schumann pro-
gramme is to contain some choruses that
are rarely heard here. There will also be
a Berlioz programme in honor of the com-
poser's centenary.
Felix Mottl is to conduct all these Sun-
day concerts, in accordance with the pres-
ent plan.
The orchestra will consist of more than
one hundred men, and if possible will be
made a permanent body. If Mr. Conried
succeeds in arranging with the musical
CLEMENTINE Dli VERE.
union to engage his orchestra players for
five years, they will give concerts in other of sound do follow closely the best of the
cities when not occupied in the opera house. arterial life which produces them; and
high up in the scale of sounds, she has dis-
It
covered that metronomic markings of mu-
CLEMENTINE DE VERE COMING.
HP HIS well known soprano who has not sical compositions are set almost without
* been heard here in three years, may variations within the scope of the human
visit this country during the coming sea- heart beat.
"The average clock time rate in the num-
son. She is heavily booked to sing in Eng-
land until the early part of January, includ- bers of Handel's Messiah," says Miss Hal-
ing the "Messiah" performance which is to lock, "is y^y^ beats per minute, exactly the
be given in the Crystal Palace at Xmas rate of the average, normal, healthy pulse."
And further, "from the beginning of the
time.
first volume of the Beethoven Sonatas,
at
Fifty-two members of the German chorus nineteen are set to a rhythm of 72 to 76
and ballet sailed for New York on the Pa- beats to the minute, and all the rhythmic
tricia from Hamburg a week ago and fifty- markings lie between 60 and 80 beats to
six members of the Italian chorus and bal- the minute, exactly the normal pulse var-
let will soon leave Milan for America by ied by the time of day and meals."
It would seem from Miss Hallock's re-
way of Boulogne-sur-Mer on the Ryndam
searches
that a composer in an excited or
to join Mr. Conried's company.
nervous
condition
could not possibly write
At the Baireuth festival performances
anything
but
a
rapid,
brilliant work, and
next year the works to be produced will be
that
when
the
blood
is
sluggish and the
"Tannhauser," "Parsifal," and "The Ring
pulse
slow
his
work
must
necessarily
be of
of the Nibelung."
the sombre type, however he might desire
it to be otherwise. It is pointed out that
the lively jingles so popular in some musi-
cal comedies are the productions of men of
a nervous temperament. Indeed, the mu-
sic reflects the whole nature of the com-
poser. Sousa's fame as composer rests
upon his marches solely; his other compo-
sitions never having proved popular. To
observe the easy graceful movements of
the popular band leader is to note that his
every movement is unconsciously a repeti-
tion of the rhythm of his marches. As a
man's movements depend wholly upon
the condition of his
nervous
system,
which the heart con-
trols, it is easy to in-
fer that, unknown to
himself, the beat of
His pulse controls the
rhythm of his musical
works.
It is a fact that
when a composer
"forces" a composi-
tion, i.e., attempts to
write a dirge wlien in
a nervous state, or a
two-step when feeling
depressed, the result
is failure. And the
same laws apply to
writers as well. Such
are the facts proved
by the researches of
Miss Mary Hallock.
She is not yet done,
but out of an almost
limitless mass of data
she has gathered she
hopes to bring to
light much greater
developments in this
line and show that
sounds in all phases
of life have the same
rhythmic
affiliation,
and, indeed, frequent-
ly have their origin
in the heart move-
ment.
it
FRANCHISE WITHOUT COST.
T I ERE is a musical franchise for some-
body. The Civil Service Commission
announced that a government position
awaits the lucky individual who has a first-
class musical education and the ability to
conduct a band of Indian musicians. The
Indian school at Chamberlain, S. D., wants
him, and the salary is $45 per month. It
has been stated that the musician who suc-
ceeds in getting the place must also be a
good shoemaker and cobbler.
•t
MINNEAPOLIS IN LINE.
Minneapolis, not dismayed by the annual
crop of orchestral deficits all over the coun-
try, has made the orchestra projected last
Spring, as mentioned in this column, an ac-
tual fact. The conductor is Emil Ober-
hoffer, and rehearsals are to begin about
the middle of next month.
it
The Equitable Music Co., of Chicago,
has been incorporated with a capital of
$10,000 for the purpose of dealing in mu-
sic and musical instruments.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
who takes up concerts with a Chicago man-
ager.
The operatic star for concerts hereabout
will
be the great French bass, Pol Planc,on.
HP HERE is every indication that the Met- at Montreal and sings here later. Suzanne
Walter
Damrosch has a lecture tour in No-
ropolitan Opera House will enjoy an Adams, still "the youngest of the prima
vember,
when he will tell Kansas City and
unusually successful season under the man- donnas," will begin another tour with Leo
other
towns
the latest news about "Parsi-
agement of Heinrich Conried, judging from Stern on Oct. 5. Lillian Blauvelt returns
fal"
and
"The
Ring." In different cities he
the support given the enterprise by the in January. Ernestine Schumann-Heink,
will
have
the
assistance
of Van Rooy and
subscribers as well as the general public, as the only prima donna contralto since Sofia
Bispham.
evidenced at the opening of the box office Scalchi, has announced her first farewell
Richard Strauss, after all is said and
this week. The enterprise is an important and will last from February to June.
done,
is the lion of the year. He will be
Louise Homer, who, with David Bispham,
in
the
van of the European invasion, for he
opens the Brooklyn Institute concerts on
is
announced
to conduct the opening con-
Oct. 22, was also the star feature at the
cert
of
Herman
Hans Wetzler's orchestra
Worcester, which closed in a blaze of glory
on
Oct.
30.
As
Strauss's latest composi-
yesterday.
tion is called a "Symphonica Domestica" it
October will see many more enterprises
is not surprising to hear that Mme. Strauss
. afoot and afield. Sousa's band, fresh from
de Ahna is to appear at all the Strauss con-
a British tour, pays a flying visit to New
certs. In Philadelphia and in Boston, also,
York on Oct. 4. John S. Duss announces
they will be assisted by the Philadelphia
his far western tour with Nordica, Kather- Orchestra and Fritz Scheel; in Chicago, by
ine Fisk, Nahan Franko and the Metropol- the Chicago Orchestra and Theodore
itan orchestra, from Oct. 5, to Nov. 12. On Thomas. Strauss in New York will be one
Oct. 6, Fritz Scheel gives a farewell sym- of the Philharmonic Society's distinguished
phony concert in San Francisco.
guest-conductors, together with Gustav F.
Of the pianists this year, there will be Kogel, of Frankfort; Henry J. Wood, of
special interest in Ferraccio Busoni, who is London; Victor Herbert, of Pittsburg;
to appear with the Boston Symphony Or- Felix Weingartner, of Munich, and W.
chestra. Adele Aus der Ohe makes her re- Von Safonoff, of Moscow.
appearance on Oct. 30-31 in Philadelphia
At the opening of the Philharmonic sea-
with the Symphony Orchestra. During
November she will give recitals in this city.
She is also booked to play four concert
with the Boston Symphony. Rafael
Joseffy will also reappear. Harold Bauer's
third American tour is likely to win oid-
time favor for this artist. The first tour of
Reisenauer, "the great German," makes his
debut in January next. Fannie Bloomfield-
Zeisler, limited to twenty appearances, wiil
make one of these on Dec. 3 at Association
JACQUES THIBAUD.
Hall, Brooklyn. Others to be heard arc
one and includes forty-five nights and fif- Ottokar Malek, from Bohemia via Chicago ;
teen matinees opening November 23d and Frieda Siemens, from Germany via Boston .
ending March 5th next. The personnel of Augusta Cottolow, who has played here,
the great artists who will participate in the and a stranger rejoicing in the portentous
opera season are largely overlooked by the prsenomen of Zudie Harris.
general public for the first time, and inter-
Jacques Thibaud, of Bordeaux, is the
est seems to center on the production of new violinist of the year. He plays on Oct.
"Parsifal" which will be produced about 30 at a Wetzler concert and on Nov. 13-14
December 21st. Some operatic novelties at the first Philharmonic and on Nov. 20
are promised, but judging from the past, it he gives his first recital in Carnegie Hall.
will be wiser to speak of these later than to- Maud Powell's return will be welcomed in
day.
January. A November recital is planned
The forces of the Metropolitan Opera for Edwin Grasse, a young American pupil
House are this year to be greatly strength- of Cesar Thompson. A new 'cellist for Jan-
ened not only as regards the orchestra, but uary is Pablo Casals.
also in other directions. During his recent
And still the soloists come, Melba will
ADELE AUS DER OHE, Pianist.
stay in Europe Mr. Conried, not without sing at a Boston Symphony concert in New
difficulty, succeeded in engaging a number York and Gadski in Brooklyn. Here are son Nov. 13, Edouard Colonne, of Paris,
of German and Italian singers for the Met- some other vocalists who will figure in local will be the leader. The program will be
ropolitan chorus, besides a portion of the bills: Charlotte Maconda and Mary His- devoted to Berlioz in honor of his centen-
new corps de ballet, which is to appear here sem de Moss, both familiar; Mmes. Shot- ary. The one American invited is Victor
in the incidental divertissements and clas- well-Piper and Harmon-Force, hyphenated Herbert, and in return his Pittsburg orches-
tra is to entertain all the rest of the half
sical ballet or ballets that will be presented
and new; Alice Esty, who made a dignified
dozen. "Prima donna conductors" are a
this season.
appearance in English grand opera; Kelley
In the concert field we are promised a Cole and William Green, English tenors; new system here, if not in Germany. The
season of great activity. Adelina Patti Charles Tree, English bass; George Ham- experiment will bear watching. The Bos-
Nicolini Cedarstrom, on Nov. 2, at Carne- lin, of Chicago, and Theodore Lierhammer, ton Symphony Orchestra goes on its accus-
gie Hall, is to wake the echoes of "Norma" of Vienna, who sing the Strauss songs; tomed way. Here in New York and Brook-
and "Linda," "II Bacio," "Last Rose" and Van Yorx and Dufft, De Voll and Isham, lyn their season opens on Nov. 5, 6 and 7,
"Home, Sweet Home," not to mention a Gwilym Miles, Campanari, Van Rooy and a week before the Philharmonic, and at in-
tervals of five weeks for five months after-
new encore suggestively entitled "The Last
many more. Bispham has the Byron-Schu- ward. The People's Symphony Concerts
Farewell." Nelly Melba, with Charles Gili-
mann "Manfred" ready. Adolph Muhl- will be resumed. Walter Damrosch's Sym-
bert and Ellison Van Hoose in her com-
man is an operatic friend, tried and true, phony Society will give its initial concert
pany, opens an American tour in October
WHAT THE MUSICAL SEASON OFFERS.

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