Music Trade Review

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THE:
WALTER DAMROSCH.
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
CONTESTS BY CHORAL SOCIETIES.
HTHE Universal Exposition, St. Louis,
1904, wishes to stimulate efforts in the
direction of high-class choral work in the
United States, and in order to do so makes
the following announcement:
A series of contests by Choral Societies
will be held during the period of the Ex-
position at Festival Hall, within the
grounds. There will be three grades of
contests; the first grade to be between
choruses having no less than ninety and
no more than one hundred and twenty
members; the second grade to be between
choruses having no less than seventy and
no more than ninety members; the third
grade to be between* choruses having no
less than forty and no more than seventy
members. There will be three cash prizes
in each grade, as follows:
First Grade—First prize, $4,500; second
prize, $3,500; third prize, $2,500.
Second Grade—First prize, $3,500; sec-
ond prize, $2,500; third prize, $1,500.
Third Grade—First prize, $2,500; second
prize, $1,500; third prize, $1,000.
The choruses in the First Grade (based
upon a membership of one hundred)
should be divided as follows: Sopranos,
32 singers; altos, 26 singers; tenors, 18
singers; basses, 24 singers.
The choruses in the Second Grade
(based upon a membership of eighty)
should be divided as follows: Sopranos,
K
26 singers; altos, 21 singers; tenors, 14
MAHLER MAY SUCCEED ZUMPE.
L J E R R GUSTAVE M A H L E R is spoken singers; basses, 19 singers.
The choruses in the Third Grade (based
of as the successor of the late Her-
mann Zumpe at Munich. The free hand upon a membership of sixty) should be
which would be given the composer and divided as follows: Sopranos, 20 singers;
conductor at the Bavarian capital might be altos, 16 singers; tenors, 10 singers;
an inducement to resign the position of basses, 14 singers.
The numbers to be rendered will be:
opera conductor at Vienna, which other-
wise is a more brilliant appointment. By
FIRST GRADE.
the way, some curious anecdotes are re- (a) "And the Glory of the Lord" from "The Mes-
siah")
G. F. Handel
lated of Zumpe. It is well known that he
(b) "O Gladsome Light" (from "The Golden Le-
was a Spiritualist and believed that the
gend")
A. S. Sullivan
(Unaccompanied.)
ghosts of dead composers inspired his con-
H. W. Parker
ducting of their works. One day Zumpe (c) "Come Away"
(d) Selection to be chosen by the contesting chorus,
told another conductor of note how
subject to the approval of the Bureau of
Beethoven's spirit was present during the
Music.
SECOND GRADE.
performance of one of the symphonies, and
(a)
"God
is
Our
Refuge"
(from "The Forty-sixth
so pleased was the ghost that after the end
Psalm" )
Dudley Buck
of the first movement it exclaimed: "At (b) "Ave Verum" (Latin or English text).
last!" "Ah, my dear fellow," exclaimed
C. Gounod
(Unaccompanied.)
the other conductor, "surely Beethoven
(c) "Bridal Chorus" (from "The Rose Maiden")
made a mistake. He thought it was the
F. Cozven
end of the last movement."
(d) Selection to be chosen by the contesting chorus,
* * *
subject to the approval of the Bureau of
Music.
Another anecdote deals with Zumpe as
THIRD GRADE.
composer. The conductor was sitting in a (a) "As the Heart Pants" (from "The Forty-
second Psalm")
F. Mendelssohn
restaurant with a number of friends, when
(b)
"Ave
Verum"
(Latin
or
English
text)
the conversation turned on composing, and
W. A. Mozart
especially on the composition of operettas.
(Unaccompanied.)
T. W. Surette
"Such things are valueless as art," said (c) "Thanksgiving Hymn"
Zumpe; "slender talent is enough for the (d) Selection to be chosen by the contesting chorus,
subject to the approval of the Bureau of
composing of them." This was by no
Music.
means the general opinion, and a heated
Societies contemplating participation in
discussion arose; but Zumpe stuck to his the contest will receive the fullest infor-
guns and in reply to the obvious retort mation by addressing the Bureau of Mu-
said that he himself could easily manufac- sic, Administration Bldg., Universal Ex-
ture an operetta. A wager ensued. At the position, St. Louis, Mo.
end of four weeks Zumpe triumphantly
it
produced the score of his "Farinelli," a
The Philharmonic Society of Warsaw
work which was brought out at Hamburg will perform this season a cantata of which
in 1886, and had a very successful run in the music is by Paderewski and the words
Germany.—London Daily News.
by the Polish poet Casimir Tetmayer.
cover page this week is adorned by
the strong features of Walter Damrosch
which have long been familiar to musicians in
this city. Mr. Damrosch has displayed ability
in almost every line—conductor, composer,
pianist and lecturer. In the latter capacity
he will be heard this season as far West as
Kansas City. We will have the pleasure of
hearing Mr. Damrosch later in the year as
director of the New York Symphony Orches-
tra, which he founded some ten years ago.
They will open their season in November as
a reorganized institution. The management
will be vested in a Board of Directors of
twenty-three, of whom eleven are men and
women interested in the furtherance of musi-
cal affairs in New York. Among these are
Mrs. George Sheldon, Mr. Frank Hastings,
Mr. Samuel Untermyer, Miss Callender, and
Mr. Daniel Frohman, who has accepted the
presidency. The orchestra will rehearse con-
stantly and will not only give its own series
of symphony concerts, under its own conduc-
tor, Walter Damrosch, but will also, if re-
quired, take part in other concerts and under
other conductors, the idea being to give New
York an organized and highly trained body
of men who are available for any musical af-
fair of the higher order. The suggestion
that the symphony concerts of the orchestra
be given on Sunday afternoons has met with
great commendation from all sides.
\
9
SUIT OVER "PARSIFAL" BEGUN.
A CTTON was begun Tuesday in the
U. S. Circuit Court by Hawes & Judge,
counsel for Frau Cosima Wagner, to prevent
production of "Parsifal" here by Heinrich
Conried. A bill of complaint was filed and
subpoenas were issued for Mr. Conried, the
Conried Metropolitan Opera Co. and the
Metropolitan Opera Real Estate Co., the lat-
ter being made a co-defendant in the suit.
The subpoena will be served on one of the
officers of that company, probably George G.
Haven, the president. The plaintiffs in the
bill not only ask for an injunction against
the presentation of "Parsifal," but also "all
damages sustained by them by reason of the
wrongful acts of the defendants."
Frau Wagner and her son base their suit
on the assertion of a property right, not only
to "Parsifal," but to all the other Wagnerian
productions. They were vested, it is assert-
ed, "with the title to all of the musical com-
positions and operas of Richard Wagner,"
and are now the "sole and exclusive owners
and proprietors thereof, and as such have the
right to determine when and where the same
shall be performed." It is set forth that it
was Richard Wagner's wish that because of
its religious and spiritual nature "Parsifal"
"should not be subjected to pecuniary trans-
actions and should be performed nowhere
outside of Bayreuth." There was, it is said,
never any dedication of "Parsifal" by Wag-
ner to the public. A musical firm in Germany
printed a limited number of copies of the
score, only under certain restrictions, which,
it is asserted, preclude the possibility of the
surrender of the property right to the pub-
lic. The statement is made in the bill of
complaint that Mr. Conried offered to com-
pensate Frau Wagner for permission to pre-
sent "Parsifal," but that Frau Wagner re-
fused to consider the offer, and that then Mr.
Conried declared he would present "Parsi-
fal" anyway. The bill also charges Mr. Con-
ried with using his influence to get talent
from the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.
Mr. Conried said after the subpoenas had
been served on him that he was glad Frau
Wagner had begun the action, for he would
show the public now that he did have a legal
right to present the drama.
Mr. Conried's
answer to the complaints will be filed with-
out delay. Mr. Hawes, Frau Wagner's coun-
sel, said that unless Mr. Conried consented
at once to give up the presentation of "Parsi-
fal," an application would be made for a
temporary injunction restraining him from
presenting "Parsifal" while the suit is pend-
ing.
DEBUSSY'S LATEST OPERA.
The young Frenchman, Claude Debussy,
whose opera based on Maeterlinck's "Pel-
leas et Melisande" has recently bewildered
the musical public of Paris, has written a-
new one, a setting of Shakespeare's "As
You Like it," that will be produced at the
Opera Comique.
KAUFMANN'S DEBUT.
Maurice Kaufmann, a young American vio-
linist, is to make his debut in Carnegie Hall
on Wednesday evening, Nov. 18, when he
will have the assistance of the New York
Symphony Orchestra with Walter Damrosch
conductor.