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THE
RLVIFW
fflMC TIRADE
VOL. XL. No. 1.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, Jan. 7, 1905.
DVORAK'S DELIGHTFUL SIDE.
The Man in His Own Country Portrayed—How
the Vote Was Cast to Come to America.
"With Dvorak in Bohemia" is the title of an
extremely intere jting article by Harry Pattison
Hopkins in the December Musician. Dvorak told
Mr. Hopkins that when the invitation was sent
him offering the directorship of the National
Conservatory in New York, he was so undecided
that he finally had to put the matter to a family
vote. Calling his wife and children into the gar-
den, they were all made to assemble round a
table beneath a large tree. He then explained
the nature of the engagement, and listened to
the opinion of each, even down to his little three-
year-old daughter. "That settles it," he ex-
claimed, after the councM had been held, "the
majority wishes to go to America. I shall
write a letter of acceptance to Mrs. Thurber im-
mediately." One day Mr. Hopkins accompanied
Dvorak, at a Bohemian country place, to a dance
hall of the village people:
"The scene was one of intense excitement. I
stood looking on, absorbed in interest, when sud-
denly Dvorak suggested that we should play
some dances ourselves from an old album that
was standing upon the piano rack. What! sit
beside a famous composer in such a trivial task?
My senses hardly credited it. Nevertheless, he
led the way, and soon we were reading through
Strauss waltzes and Bohemian schottisches, to the
quick and unreversed whirlings of the peasants.
Afterward his wife exclaimed: 'There now, if
you go back to America and tell musicians that
you and Dvorak played dances together, nobody
will believe you!'
"On our return the intense silence of the for-
est, and the sombre twilight would affect him
visibly. Every Saturday night he would make a
positive engagement with me to attend church
the next day; but would always forget it when
the time came, or feign indifference or invite me
to take a wall. wit v him instead As the vari-
ous species ui bird 0 seemed to please him, he
would sometimes go out into the garden with
opera glasses and study the varieties which flew
within range, often insisting upon my company.
I have had to sit for an hour, at times, in per-
fect silence, and often motionless."
MAY HEAR GENUINE NORSE MUSIC.
The Minneapolis Journal hears that prepara-
tions are being made by the students' chorus of
the National University of Christiania to visit
America next summer and to give the Americans
a taste of -enuine Norse music. The plans are
about the same as those followed by the Lund
students last summer, and the Norwegians ex-
pect to equal the success achieved by their
Swedish cousins. The students of Christiania,
like those of Upsala and Lund, in Sweden, are
famous singers. They have not often sung out
of Norway, however. In 1889 the chorus went to
the World's Fair at Paris, and it was the gen-
eral opinion that their singing of "Olaf Trygvas-
son" was the best chorus work at the fair. They
attended the Exposition in Paris in 1900, and
again made a distinct success.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
KREISLER'S REAPPEARANCE.
DE PACHMANN THE WIZARD
The Great Violinist Scores a Great Triumph at
His Concert on Tuesday Evening.
Starts the Concerts of the New Year—An Inter-
esting Interview With the Great Artist.
Fritz Kreisler, the Austrian violinist, who
made his reappearance in Carnegie Hall last
Tuesday night, demonstrated to the satisfaction
of all that as a great virtuoso he is now in the
zenith of his powers. In the three years which
have elapsed since he was last heard here Kreis-
ler's art has developed to the highest degree and
his playing on Tuesday evening aroused the
greatest enthusiasm. His numbers were the
Brahms and Beethoven concertos, assisted by
the New York Symphony Orchestra, under the
baton of Walter Damrosch. No more perfect
playing than Kreisler's could be imagined and
he well deserves the title, so unanimously given
him in England, France and Germany, of being
the legitimate successor of Joachim. His play-
ing is such that one is carried away to the
realms of fancy—it creeps stealthily into one's
soul and arouses every emotion. That Kreisler
is destined to have a tremendous success on his
present tour goes without saying. Free from
mannerisms of any kind he convinces one that he
is a master of his art.
NATIONAL CONSERVATORY CONCERT.
The National Conservatory of Music gave its
first concert this season on December 12th at
Assembly Hall to a select audience. The orches-
tra, under Leo Schulz, surprised the audience
by its brilliant work. Of the soloists, mention
must be made of Nicholas Garagusi, violinist,
who played the first movement of the A Minor
Concerto, by Viotti, in a highly creditable man-
ner. Miss Sarah Gurowitch gave a masterful
rendition of Servais' "Ocara Memoria." The
concertmeister, Julius Casper, played Vieux-
temps' "Ballade and Polonaise" and the obligato
in Handel's "Largo," exhibiting strikingly the
vast range of his powers. The dreamy sadness
of the "Ballade" rang out with touching simplicity
in a singing tone of rare beauty. In contrast
to this was the powerful and rich tone, in the
"Polonaise" with its broad pathetic sweep. Here
the fire of youth and passionate force of the
artist wrought a performance that was stirring
in its intensity. The obligato in Handel's
"Largo" Mr. Casper played with a nobility of
tone, that did full justice to this great master-
piece. A prodigious technique, combined with a
musical intelligence uncommonly developed in
one so young, give the playing of this violinist
a distinct impressiveness and stamped it of high
artistic value. This clever young violinist has a
brilliant future before him.
MUSIC IN MEXICO.
Mr. Heald, an American missionary in Mexico,
thus sums up his impressions regarding music
among the inhabitants of that country. "They
are fond of music, though not proficient in the
art of making it, probably more from lack of
opportunity than from lack of capacity. The
violin and guitar are the usual instruments of
music, the repertoire of the local musicians be-
ing usually limited to a few tunes which are in
equal demand for the dance and for the funeral."
Vladimir de Pachmann, who last month played
Chopin in Chicago and other western cities with
his usual success, returned here for his fifth
and last recital of his winter series on Sunday
last at Carnegie Hall, scoring, as usual, a tre-
mendous success. Speaking of the wizard of the
keyboard, an interesting interview appeared re-
cently in the Boston Herald in which de Pach-
mann says that he is not aware of the fact that
those who do not know him rank him as a pian-
ist of affected mannerisms. "My managers told
me in New York a little while ago," said de Pach-
mann, "to be 'dignified' and 'reserved.' For
nearly an hour I sat like a good boy, but I could
not play. I played only notes. After the con-
cert they said: 'The next time do as you please.'
I feel the music when it is beautiful. I feel it to
such a degree that I cannot keep still." Nor is
he at all disquieted when anyone remonstrates
with him for his "perversion" of, say, a study by
Moscheles. "But it is impossible to play it the
way it is written. It is so stiff, so dry. I make
it at least sound beautiful."
There are pianists who, when the talk is about
their colleagues, praise without reserve, ful-
somely. Mr. de Pachmann is discriminative.
Risler is a sound, solid pianist, but he has not
the grace and the poetry in interpretation that
Mr. de Pachmann demands. Saint-Saens has in-
imitable chic and elegance; Tausig was dry;
Josef Hofmann is really musical—his apparent
indifference is in his face, his mask, not in his
soul. "And how about Liszt? What would be
said of him to-day?" Mr. de Pachmann de-
scribed in admirably chosen words the romanti-
cism of Liszt's interpretation, his poetic touch,
his face-like arabesques—but he did not hesitate
to say that his technique in these days, when
technique runs in the street, would not be con-
sidered as extraordinary; as a matter of fact,
some would find it inadequate. Mr. de Pach-
mann, by the way, studied Liszt's concerto, in
E flat with the composer, and he insists that the
last section should be taken with a certain dig-
nity, maestoso, not as it is hurried usually by
pianists and conductors.
E. R. KR0EGER AGAIN IN HARNESS.
E. R. Kroeger, Master of Programmes of the
Bureau of Music at the late Louisiana Purchase
Exposition at St. Louis, is announcing, through
the local dailies, that, as his work in connection
with the bureau is at an end, he has resumed
charge of his classes in pianoforte playing, har-
mony and composition at his studio in the Odeon,
Grand and Finney avenues, St. Louis, Mo.
Georg Henschel will remain in this city dur-
ing the winter. He is to deliver a number of
lectures on Johannes Brahms. These lectures
are not of a musical character entirely, but dis-
cuss his private life, and many interesting anec-
dotes relating to the famous composer are men-
tioned in the talk. One lecture will be given
in this city.
OX AND