Music Trade Review

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THE
(Critic &
With which is incorporated THE MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL.
VOL. IV.
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 20TH, 1881.
No. 2
done. In London they have their own pompous way of making a subscription
HO! FOB CONEY ISLAND.
a fund which shall enable Mr. Frank J. Amor to go to America. They
AURICE STRAKOSCH is full of plans, schemes and ideas, and as he for
want $750, and to raise this sum they make a great deal of fuss in the
understands how to treat continental reporters who lend him their only
and mention the name of every person who contributes a shilling
willing ears, the newspapers in Germany and France are full of him. While papers
the purpose. A publisher, Mr. W. Duncan Davison, gives $10.50,
traveling with Emma Thursby, he conceived new plans in every city or towards
and has the great pleasure of seeing his name in print with the amount.
town he passed, made his campaign document in the railway car, and Imagine
Mr. G. Schirmer contributing $10 for a charitable purpose, and we
handed it over as a fait accompli to the chief newspaper man of the next sure his
first and only condition would be, that his name should not be
town. These fellows in Germany are in this regard so unsophisticated, that are
A great injustice is done to Mr. Amor. This gentleman, who
they take Strakosch's rodomontades as full-weighted, genuine coin, and the mentioned.
the violin and piano, may be in needy circumstances, but we do not see
next morning tells the astonished world what great deeds Maurice Stra- plays
reason why all the world must be acquainted with this fact. If his friends
kosch is going to commit. For the last four months European files carry any
want to help him, let them do so among themselves and their friends. They
important news across the water in regard to Strakosch's enterprises; they think
he can do better in America, and pronounce their opinion so publicly,
all arrive here, are reproduced in American newspapers, and—the charm has that every
musician in this country will know beforehand that Mr. Amor
vanished. On this side of the Atlantic only very few people believe any- comes to settle
among us by help of those who contributed to the fund.
thing of Maurice Strakosch's schemes before they see it with their own eyes. This feeling must
be unpleasant to Mr. Amor, who wants to begin a fresh
The history of Maurice Strakosch's enterprises in this country is not so well start on new ground.
It cannot be agreeable to know that everybody in
shaped as to produce special confidence in his assurances.
the profession to whom Mr. Amor may be introduced here, can say to him:
During the period of his European peregrinations, Mr. Maurice Stra- "Oh, Mr. Amor; yes, I recollect; you are the man who could not make a
kosch touched Leipsic, the town on the banks of the rivulet Reisse, cele- living in England, and your countrymen sent you over here to try America."
brated through Poniatowski, the Fair and the Gewandhaus concerts. The Nobody actually will say so, but as thonghts cannot be prevented, Mr.
Director of the Leipsic Opera is Angelo Neuman, years ago third baritone Amor's position in this country is made awkward through the ill-behavior of
of the Vienna Opera, then a very handsome man and a singer of fair abilities. his English friends, who cannot give up their pompous way, We do not
This very Neuman is now director of the Leipsic Opera, and ambition think less of Mr. Amor on account of his financial embarrassments, and shall
is his weak point. Strakosch met Herr Neuman, treated him to some of his judge him upon his arrival in America solely according to his merits. But
grand schemes, and the result of this treat was an announcement in the Lon- it must appear strange that London assurance will admit that musicians can
don papers, in January, that Herr Maurice Strakosch has the honor to have a greater opportunity of exercising their talents in America than in
announce that he has made arrangements with Herr Angelo Neuman, of the England. The English are the very people who are obstinate and prejudiced
Leipsic Opera House, to direct the performance of Richard Wagner's Great in favor of their own country, and generally will not allow any advantages to
Tetralogy of the '' Nibelungen " during the forthcoming season in London. other nations. Facts, that musicians are starving in London, or at least are
Among some other announcements, it is promised, that the performances not looking into a brighter future, must have become too obvious to allow any
will be under the immediate supervision of the "Great Master." The further denial. Only a few weeks ago Mr. Frederick Archer arrived in New
advertisement closes with the words: "Further particulars Avill be duly York, and introduced himself to the musical public of this city. This gentle-
announced." The whole scheme breathes Strakosch in every letter of the man left his country because his country did not give him satisfaction.
advertisement. Unfortunately, Strakosch forgot the most important thing Whether America will give him this satisfaction remains to be seen. If
for such an enterprise—the theatre. London journalists sneer at Strakosch musicians would not insist upon settling in New York, they would act
and ridicule him for advertising something which is impossible to accomplish. wisely. The West needs active men, and new-comers will find it in their own
Angelo Neuman, who seems to have blind confidence in Maurice Strakosch's interest to settle in regions which may be less advanced in art, but are sure
sagacity, was interviewed in Leipsic, and stated, that in February an agent to promise a richer harvest. Things may look very bad in England, and we
was to be dispatched to London to secure a theatre and make arrangements. have to expect an immigration of musicians from that country. If they have
The three houses in which a production of Wagner's " Tetralogy " were pos- talent, they will find the soil of America fertile and their new homes a plea-
sible, are Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Her Majesty's Theatre. All sant change, even if New York or Boston is slow to acknowledge their
three are engaged, and if Maurice does not create a coup d'etat, we are afraid individual merits.
he must give up the idea of performing the " Nibelungen" the before Eng-
lish people. It really seems as if Strakosch had already given up the idea,
for, when being asked about it, he answered: "If the Leipsic troupe can-
A RHYME FOE MUSICIANS, BY ELIZABETH LEMEE.
not come to London, I shall be happy to take them to the United States."
Hansen, Jansen, Jensen, Kiehl,
United States, of course, means in the first place New York, and opera in June Hsendel, Bendel, Mendelssohn,
Brendel, Wendel, Jadassohn,
Stade, Gade, Laade, Stiehl,
in New York, means in reality Coney Island.
Naumann, Neumann, Hiihnerfiirst,
Ho! For Coney island! The idea is one of the most brilliant and Mau- Miiller, Hiller, Heller, Franz,
Niemann, Riemann, Diener, Wiirst.
rice Strakosch alone could be capable of it. Of course, he must have a big Plothow, Flotow, Burtow, Gantz.
opera house facing the Atlantic, but Strakosch is well-known in New York,
Geyer, Meyerbeer,
Kochler, Dochler, Rubenstein,
and can easily find the capital to lay the corner stone between Manhattan and Meyer,
Heyer, Weyer, Beyer, Beer,
Himmel, Hummel, Rosenkeyn,
Brighton Beach. It may be reasonably supposed that the railroad com- Lichner,
Schachner, Dietz, Lauer, Bauer, Kleinicke,
panies of Coney Island will contribute to the scheme, which promises large Hill, Will, Lachner,
Bruell, Grill, Drill, Riess, Romberg, Plomberg, Reinecke.
returns to the impresario, consequently to them too. We do not know what
Rietz.
t
the expenses of Maurice Strakosch's enterprise will be, but expenses never
have troubled this genial man, and he can expect that one of the German
steamship lines will do for him, what the Inman line does for Colonel Maple-
Mr. Carl Feininger gave* his third chamber music concert on Wednes-
son, namely, not insist upon cash payment for transportation of artists, day evening last. The same string quartet, composed of Messrs. Feininger,
orchestra, scenery, stage carpenters. As to salaries of the troupe, that is Roebbelen, Risch, and Miiller were present, and Miss Florence Copleston
entirely Mr. Neuman's business. Strakosch may have told him, that on fine pianiste, and Mr. Georg Henschel took part in the performance. The pro-
days about 100,000 people congregate on the Island, and Neuman decides gramme contained a string quartet by Beethoven, op. 18, No. 5, in A major,
upon giving three performances a day, to increase the receipts and reduce two piano solos by Miss Copleston, an original violin solo by Mr. Feininger,
the expense. Why not three performances a day? The man with the three songs by Mr. Henschel, and Raff's quintet in A minor, op. 107, by the
Punch and Judy show gives ten exhibitions in one afternoon. The plan of string quartet and Miss Copleston.
Maurice Strakosch is undisputably excellent, and we only hope that he will
At the concert of the Mendelssohn Glee Club on Tuesday last, Mr. Gil-
not change his mind in the eleventh hour. Ho! For Coney Island!
christ's prize song, " Ode to the Sun," was performed for the first time.
The Strakosch-Hess English Opera Company will begin their season at
LONDON ASSURANCE.
Fifth-Avenue Theatre on the 28th inst. Mine. Marie Roze and the other
T ONDONERS have a good deal of assurance, which in our less civi- the
will perform in a repertoire which includes English versions of
I J lized atmosphere is generally called cheek. More or less this feeling artists
"Mefistofele,"
"Aiida," "Mignon," "Lohengrin," and "William Tell," be-
of assurance exists in every metropolis. Viennese have it, you find itjin Ber-
lin, Parisians are full of it, and New Yorkers cannot claim to be entirely free sides some lighter works.
from it. If London assurance becomes more conspicuous than that mani-
The Oratorio Society's third concert of this season will be given on Sat-
fested in other cities, it is their own fault. They have a certain pompous urday evening, Feb. 26, with a preliminary public rehearsal the previous
way of doing everything, even if it tells against them. As we mentioned in afternoon, at Steinway Hall. For the first time in this country Handel's
our last issue they want to send a musician to this country, evidently on the " L'allegro, II Penseroso ed H Moderato " will be performed, with the assist-
ground that this man cannot make both ends meet on British soil. Such ance of the orchestra of the Symphony Society. The soloists will be Mme.
things may happen in every country, and even America, known as the best Julie Rosewald, Miss Whinnery, Misa Emily Winant, Mr. Theodore Toedt,
supporter of men and women of capability, can show some instances in which and Mr. Henschel.
talented people had to fight their way through in order to earn their daily
The Mapleson Opera Company will] return to j New York and give the
bread. If some friends here want to do something for a musician in distress,
they can easily manage to collect a pretty snug sum among the members of first performance of the spring season on the evening of March 7. The opera
the musical profession and the music trade, without bringing it to public will be Flotow's " Martha."
notice at all. Cases have been known here in which the amount of several
Miss Blanche Roosevelt is announced to give a concert in Chickering
thousand dollars has been brought together, and nobody knew how it was Hall, with the assistance of a number of artists, on the 11th of March.
M