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THE MUSIC TRADE
Mme. Carreno's Great Success With the New York Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie H a l l —
Very Flattering Notices Received—What the Leading Critics Had to Say—Dorothy Leth-
bridge Another Artist Scoring Great Success With the Everett Piano—A Pianiste of Un-
usual Ability—-Mile. Lena Cavalleri Insures Her Larynx—Other Artists Carrying Special
Policies—Music Teachers' National Association Held Twenty-ninth Annual Session—Papers
Read and Recitals Given—Josef Hofmann to Give Recitals in City of Mexico.
Mme. Carreno not only duplicated her great
success of last week with the New York Sym-
phony Orchestra in Brooklyn, but markedly
accentuated it at the concert of the same or-
ganization at Carnegie Hall last Sunday after-
noon. The program was unusually interesting;
the orchestral numbers consisting of that re-
markable work of Berlio2; the "Symphony Fan-
tastique"; the scherzo from Gounod's "Little
Symphony for Wind Instruments," and Sir Ed-
ward Elgar's march, "Pomp and Circumstance."
Mme. Carreno's number was Tschaikovsky's B
flat minor Concerto. She was in fine form on
this occasion and played with tremendous power,
clarity and comprehension of the requirements
of this always fascinating and remarkable work.
There was no evidence of any diminution in her
art since she was last heard in New York; on
the contrary there was ample proof of a riper
and more masterly conception. She brought out
the tonal beauties of the Everett piano in superb
fashion. The wide range of emotion centered
in the Tschaikovsky number gave opportunities
to display all its shadings by means of this su-
perb creation of American manufacture. The
John Church Co. have every reason to feel proud
of the splendid showing which their piano made
under the marvelous fingers of this great artist,
who has been so aptly termed "the lioness of the
keyboard."
The critics of the daily papers were most flat-
tering in their notices of Mme. Carreno's play-
ing—in i.act, it is rare that critics are so unani-
mous in their commendation. Space forbids us
giving extracts from the various papers, but the
couple appended herewith are illustrative of the
general tenor of these criticisms. The critic of
the New York Times said: "Mme. Carreno was
enthusiastically greeted, and the expectations
that her greeting implied were wholly realized
by her playing. It was a superbly spirited per-
formance of Tschaikovsky's work, passionate,
fiery and eloquent, highly individual in eliciting
the meaning and full value of every phrase, yet
never losing sight of the larger proportions of
the work. Mme. Carreno's playing in other
years has sometimes seemed extravagant and
extreme in its treatment of the sonorities of the
piano; but there was nothing of this in her per-
formance yesterday."
Reginald De Koven, the critic of the New
York World, in the course of a eulogistic notice
said: "Mme. Teresa Carreno, not heard here in
some years, was the soloist and made a positive
sensation by a really magnificent performance
of Tschaikovsky's beautiful B flat minor con-
certo. Mme. Carreno has a breadth and nobility
of style, an authority and a virility to the rich-
ness, fullness and body of her tone distinctly
non-feminine, combined with a refined elegance,
a subtle sympathy, pliancy and romantic senti-
ment which as distinctively are, and her tech-
nique is masterful and impeccable. There have
been ample opportunities this season for form-
ing and setting a high standard of piano playing.
Mme. Carreno reaches and goes beyond it.
Never before from a woman, nor Essipoff, nor
Zeisler, nor Carreno herself have I heard such
piano playing; never better from any one. But
the most clamorous applause could not break
through Mr. Damrosch's no encore rule. In view
of some recent local performances I record with
gratitude the fact that the accompaniment to
this concerto was admirably played."
The evening papers, without exception, echoed
the chorus of praise of their morning contem-
poraries. Each and all express a desire to hear
Carreno in recital a t an early date.
* * • •
. Another artist who is scoring a great success
with the Everett piano is Dorothy Lethbridge,
who possesses many of those individual traits
which have made Carreno such a distinguished
figure in the pianistic world. Miss Lethbridge
is the daughter of a noted English family who
received a thorough musical equipment in Ger-
many. She was a pupil of Schirner, whose
reputation as a pianist and teacher is known all
over Europe. She has been appearing in public
since 1899 and Dr. Revel, the well-known critic
of Berlin, in one of his critiques said: "In not
a very long time hence we will place the name
of Miss Lethbridge beside those of D'Albert and
and leaders were held and a number of important
papers were read, among which was one by Dr.
Thaddeus Cahill, on "Electric Music," in which
he gave an interesting description of the Tel-
harmonic system of music, with special refer-
ence to its capacity for serving as a vehicle of
expression. In the evening there was a song
recital as well as a reception to the association
by the authorities of the Columbia University.
The sessions for to-day include a report of the
committee on piano curriculum, and the reading
of a number of other papers on musical topics.
In the afternoon the members of the association
will be the guests of the authorities of the Metro-
politan Museum of Art for the purpose of visit-
ing the famous Crosby-Brown collection of musi-
cal instruments. Courtesies will be extended by
Miss Fannie Morris, who was in attendance to
meet visitors from the association. To-morrow
a special vesper service will be heard under the
auspices of the American Guild of Organists a t
the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, to which
members of the association have been invited.
On Monday a number of important papers will
be read, while in the afternoon and evening there
will be recitals. On Tuesday the annual business
meeting will occur. There will also be a discus-
sion on a number of papers to be read by emi-
nent musicians. The program throughout is one
of the most important ever formulated and can-
not fail to be of decided benefit to the profes-
sion at large.
*
MME. CARRENO.
•
*
•
Josef Hofmann left New York on Saturday for
the City of Mexico, where he will give five piano
recitals. He will, of course, play the Steinway
piano and still further extend the wonderful
merits of this instrument in the "Land of the
Montezumas."
• • • •
Mme. Carreno left for Chicago early in the
week to spend Christmas with her two daughters,
who are attending one of the fashionable private
schools in that city, where they will remain
during her entire American tour. While in Aus-
tralia she pursued the same plan for her chil-
dren's education. She returns for a concert a t
the Hippodrome on (to-morrow) Sunday, Dec.
29, when she will be heard in a very interesting
program. She will be assisted by an orchestra of
seventy under the baton of Manuel Klein. She
will play four or five numbers without orchestra.
Paderewski. She will undoubtedly be one of the
foremost pianists of the generation."
His prophecy has been realized judging from
the very flattering opinions written of Miss Leth-
bridge by English critics. They all express
amazement at her astounding technical equip-
ment as well as her breadth of conception and
temperament. The John Church Co., under
whose management Miss Lethbridge is appearing
in this country, have just issued a volume re-
ferring to Miss Lethbridge's achievements, which
J. L. Rood, of Glenwood, Wis., has opened ware-
is a veritable edition de luxe. The printing is rooms in that city.
on hand made paper, and real photographs are
interspersed throughout, showing the artist in
"DISTINCTIVELY HIGH GRADE"
various positions. She is a woman of remark-
able physical charms apart from her musical
attributes, and the John Church Co. are to be
congratulated on the artistic manner in which
they have brought this clever pianist to the no-
tice of the musical world.
•
•
•
*
Mile. Lena Cavalleri, the grand opera singer,
has recently insured her larynx for £10,000. If,
by any mischance, the prima donna is deprived
of her voice for any period she will be recom-
pensed by the insurance company who issued
the policy. Mile. Cavalleri's move in this direc-
tion is only one of the endeavors of artistes to
insure their best paying physical endowments
against accident. Paderewski holds a policy of
£10,100 on his hands, a small consideration when
measured by the receipts of the famous pianist,
l a Belle Otero has placed the value of the feet
with which she has danced to fame and fortune
at the modest figure of £30,000—£3,000 for each
toe. Kubelik estimates the money compelling
power of his fingers at £10,000 in his insurance
policy. Cavalleri's throat, Otero's feet, and Pad-
erewski's and Kubelik's fingers, therefore, total
over £60,000—a very moderate estimate indeed,
as a London paper aptly says.
* * * *
The twenty-ninth annual session of the Music
Teachers' National Association was opened at
Columbia University yesterday—continuing until
Tuesday next—when President Nicholas Murray
Butler extended courtesies on behalf of Colum-
bia University to the assembling pedagogues. In
the afternoon informal conferencBs for teaeheTS'
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