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THE: MUSIC TRADE
WAUIStR CURlOSIlltS
His Arrangements of Compositions by Other
Composers—Reminders of His Paris Days.
A writer in Die Musik has been looking up the
achievements of Richard Wagner in dealing with
other people's works. In the forties the then
little-known master from time to time superin-
tended the production of certain famous composi-
tions, with the ordinary performances of which
he was not content. Among these were Pales-
trina's "Stabat Mater" (March, 1848), Gluck's
"lphigenie en Aulide" (February, 1847), and
Beethoven's "Choral" symphony (April, 1846).
His arrangements of works for the Paris firms
of Schlesinger and Troupenas included a piano-
forte score of Donizetti's "La Favorite," of which
the title-page read as thus: "La Favorite. Re-
duite avec accompagnement de piano par Richard
Wagner. A Monsieur G. Meyerbeer, Director-
General de la Musique Royale de Prusse, Membre
correspondent de l'lnstitut de France, Chevalier
de plusieurs ordres, etc., respectuesment dedie."
Various transcriptions from the same opera are
mentioned as by Wagner—one for piano only, a
second for four hands, a third in the form of a
quartet for violins or flutes, and so on. Other
operas treated in much the same manner were
Halevy's "La Reine de Chypre," Auber's "Zan-
etta," and Herold's "Zampa." Wagner also ar-
ranged for four hands some of the very popular
fantasies of Henri Herz. The most important of
these had the following inscription: "Grande
fantaisie sur la 'Romanesca,' fameux air de danse
du XVIe. siecle, par Henri Herz (Op. 111). Ar-
range a quatre mains par Richard Wagner."
These examples of the "strange bedfellows" with
which poverty makes men acquainted are now
very scarce. The Wagner Museum at Eisenach
is said to possess one of them.
PRIZE COMPETITION FOR PART SONG.
The Schubert Glee Club, of Jersey City, N. J.,
of which Mr. Louis R. Dressier is conductor, will
next season celebrate its twentieth anniversary.
To commemorate this event, the club has offered
a prize of fifty dollars in gold for the best part
song for men's voices. The composition is to be
in four parts, with or without accompaniment and
with or without incidental solos. The selection
of the text is left to the composers; the time of
the performance must not exceed twelve minutes.
All compositions submitted must be received by
the secretary on or before August 15, 1905, and
must be signed by a nom-de-plume of the com-
poser. The real name and address of the com-
poser must accompany the manuscript, in a separ-
ate, sealed envelope, on the outside of which must
be written the nom-de-plume used. This envelope
will not be opened until the award has been an-
nounced by the committee. The committee of
award consists of Messrs. Dudley Buck, Horatio
Parker and Victor Herbert. Manuscripts should
be addressed to Mr. Leon O. Gilmore, 12 Cottage
street, Jersey City, N. J., who will retain them
unopened, until the above date, when they will
be forwarded to the committee of award.
AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS.
On Tuesday evening, May 2, 1905, at the Church
of the Incarnation, 35th street and Madison ave-
nue, New York, the annual election of the Amer-
ican Guild of Organists was held, which resulted
in the following officers being elected:
For warden (presiding officer), John Hyatt
Brewer, organist Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian
Church, Brooklyn; sub-warden, Warren R. Hed-
den, organist Church of the Incarnation, New
York; chaplain, Rev. William M. Grosvenor,
D.D., rector Church of the Incarnation, New
York; secretary, Clifford Demarest, organist Re-
formed Church on the Heights, Brooklyn; treas-
urer, Charles T. Ives, organist First Presbyterian
Church, Montclair, N. J.; registrar, H. Brooks
Day, organist St. Luke's P. E. Church, Brooklyn;
librarian, George Francis Morse, organist Dutch
Reformed Church, Flatbush, N. Y.; auditors,
Mark Andrews, Montclair, N. J.; Frederic Max-
REVIEW
son, Philadelphia, Pa.; councillors, Samuel A.
Baldwin, Brooklyn; S. Archer Gibson, New York;
Carl G. Schmidt, Brooklyn; William C. Carl, New
York, and John Spencer Camp, Hartford, Conn.
rector Mahler for the Vienna opera company for
the next two seasons. She will sing leading so-
prano roles in Wagnerian music dramas and
lighter operatic productions.
A HISTORY OF IRISH MUSIC.
POPULAR AIRS GROW BETTER.
It has long been known that Ireland has many
charming folk songs, and that it has produced
several eminent composers—John Field, Balfe,
Wallace, Stanford, Victor Herbert—but the au-
thor of "A History of Irish Music," just issued
in Belfast, W. H. Grattan Flood, goes so far as
to claim that the Irish invented musical form
(the germ which developed into the sonata
form), that they were the first to employ har-
mony and counterpoint, and that they "gener-
ously diffused music all over Europe." In a
chapter on Shakespeare and Irish music, Mr.
Flood shows that the great poet was acquainted
with many Irish songs.
WINNER OF HAMBOURG PRIZE.
The offering of prizes by well-known pianists
is now quite the thing. Before Josef Hofmann
left New York he offered a number of prizes for
the purpose of encouraging composers and in
London Mark Hambourg did the very same thing.
The prize of $50.00 for the best pianoforte piece
offered by Mark Hambourg was won by Frank
Bridge. His Capriccio in A Minor when played
in London by Hambourg was warmly applauded,
so much so that the player had to repeat it. This
was followed by the composer being twice called
on the platform.
STRENUOUS LIFE IN MUSIC.
The strenous life in music was personified by
the late Ernst Pauer of London. When Dr. Hans-
lick visited him during the time of the London
Exposition, he found him giving lessons eight or
nine hours a day, yet returning to his family
bright and smiling, and eager for his dinner.
During a residence of over twenty years he had
never found time to visit the Westminster Abbey.
PEOPLE'S MUSIC SCHOOL DISSOLVED.
The People's Music School, founded in Paris
a few years ago, by Charpentier, the composer
of "Louise," has ceased to exist. It was opened
for the benefit of sewing girls and milliners, and
they showed no lack of appreciation of their op-
portunities, but the funds soon gave out and the
school had to be closed. The deficit of the first
year, amounting to nearly $5,000, was paid by
Charpentier.
JAN KUBELIK COMING BACK.
A dispatch from London on Wednesday says
that Jan Kubelik, the violinist, has signed a con-
tract for a season of 100 concerts in America be-
ginning Dec. 1 next.
MISS GETTY'S SONGS ARE SUNG.
A dispatch from Paris says that Miss Alice
Getty has fallen into the new Paris fashion, of
which the Due de Massa is the shining exemplar,
of composers having their own works given by
professional executants at their own receptions.
At her apartment in the Avenue Champs Elysees
a cycle of her songs was performed and her
guests were naturally mostly Americans.
A 14-YEAR-OLD COMPOSER.
George Williams, a 14-year-old London school
boy, has composed an oratoria which has at-
tracted much attention for the musical Intelli-
gence displayed. It contains about fifty num-
bers, with choruses, solos, duets and even double
choruses with eight-part accompaniments. It
was the work of only nineteen days.
NEW YORK SINGER ENGAGED.
Miss Lillian Heidelbach, a New York singer
and a member of the Metropolitan Opera House
company last season, has been engaged by Di-
Homer N. Bartlett Finds Improvement in the
Music of the Street.
Homer N. Bartlett, the well-known composer,
is optimistic on the question of popular music.
In his opinion the street music of to-day is on a
much higher plane than that of a few years ago.
"I find," said he, "that the writers of popular
music are using better harmonies. Formerly
they limited themselves almost exclusively to the
primary triad. To-day quite a number of them
make frequent use of augmented chords. The
scope is much wider than it was.
"Although the six-eight time and the waltz
time are still the vehicles most commonly used
by composers who wish to ride to popularity, ex-
amples of stately semi-classical music are being
written. The public naturally has a preference
for the rollicking tempo and the jingle, but it has
its moods when more severe music appeals to it.
A diet of peanuts and pink lemonade can pall, at
which time roast beef becomes invested with a
taste compared to which nectar and ambrosia
are as warm water. In music, coon songs and
syncopated time marches are the peanuts and
pink lemonade, the stately, severe and classical
music is the roast beef.
"As for what constitutes a popular programme,
opinions in this as in everything else must be
widely different. Personally I do not believe that
such a programme need contain trash. The
programme which I would select probably
would not be the most popular with the hoi pol-
loi, but there is no valid reason why it should
not be. The numbers which I would select would,
in my judgment, appeal to any music-loving
public.
"My first selection would be the overture from
'Tannhiiuser,' which I consider the most effective,
most original, and greatest overture ever written.
The opening choral, harmonically unlike the old
diatonic music of this form, is used throughout
in a masterly manner, and its reappearance at
the close with the theme prolonged by making
the half notes full notes, is of magnificent effect.
"My other selections would include the Leo-
nore No. 3, overture of Beethoven; the 'Oberon,'
overture of Weber, Goldmark's 'Sakuntala,' the
Pathetique Symphony of Tschaikowsky, Beethov-
en's Seventh symphony, the Spring Song of Men-
delssohn, Saint-Saen's 'Rouet d'Omphale,' Liszt's
Second Hungarian Rhapsody, the Vorspiel from
'Lohengrin,' Liszt's Preludes, and Victor Her-
bert's American Phantasy.
"This last composition," said Mr. Bartlett, in a
talk with The Globe, aside from the popularity
which it derives from the fact that such melodies
as 'Dixie' and 'Yankee Doodle' are interpolated, is
of remarkable musical value. Many potpourris
of American airs have been written, but they
have all relapsed into innocuous desuetude. Her-
bert's phantasy will endure because of the con-
summate skill shown in the arrangement of the
melodies chosen and the skilful orchestration of
the whole. It is more than clever—it is great."
PUCCCINI TO WRITE THE MUSIC.
Clyde Fitch, the well-known dramatist, who is
now in Europe, has imparted the news that he
is going to Lucca to see Puccini, the composer
of the Tosca and the Boh erne, adding: "He iB
going to write the music for a play of mine that
Emma Eames will sing in next winter in New
York." He did not reveal the name of the play,
but said it was an old one.
H. W. Loomis, whose great specialty is Indian
music, is arranging for a tour of the West. He
will remain at Tacoma and Seattle for a time,
studying the Indians, and repeating his Indian
concert, which will also subsequently be given
at Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.