Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
February 20th, 1881.
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
views. This character of stateliness can only be preserved by a certain
dignity of rhythm. They try now very often to modernize the old Menuetto
by hurrying the time; but they not only spoil the effect, but do an injustice
to the composer. The Scherzo is a more modern invention; it is quite dif-
PHILADELPHIA.
ferently conceived, and consequently rendered in an entirely different
manner. People who try to make a Scherzo out of a Menuetto confound COL. GRAY AND THE REPORTERS.—THE MAPLESON TKOUPE.—CHAMBER MUSIO.—
THE ABBOTT TROUPE.—FIRE.—DENGREMONT.
musical ideas, and rob some of the old masterpieces of their charms. A
modernized Menuetto is like a whig with a chignon. The Mozart Quar-
PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1881.
tette was followed by the Trio in F sharp, Op. 1, by Xaver Scharwenka, Mr.
HE able president of the Schomacker Piano Company, Col. Gray, is just
Richard Hoffman being the pianist of the occasion. This Trio is the work of
now being treated to quite a lot of gratuitous advertising. Besides
younger years of this now renowned writer, and it hardly deserves more than a
passing mention. The work is uneven, and the beginning of the first move- being the active head of his own large business, the Colonel finds time
ment makes promises which are entirely disregarded later on. The first move- to be also an active member of the City Health Board. And at a recent sit-
ment shows a degree of manliness in themes and treatment which is effec- ting of the Board, he was so hasty as to declare against ever, any more,
tive. But there is even in this movement so much common-place work that admitting reporters to their meetings. Just fancy the number of para-
the listener feels at times somewhat depressed. The second movement, an graphs which our newspaper men have devoted to that subject ever since.
Andanti.no quasi Allegretto reminds of the second movement of Franz Nothing touches so tender a point in the newspaper man as to doubt his
Schubert's "Ninth Symphony." Scharwenka has done some nice bits of capacity for keeping a secret. Gen. Butler (who is not musical like Col.
work in it, but the odium of plagiarism cannot be wiped out so easily. Gray) once said that he would trust a reporter with untold sums of gold,
The audience, whether the compliment was meant for Schubert, Schar- but never with a secret. The great military chief has been soundly berated
wenka, or the performers, encored this movement so vigorously that it was ever since. Col. Gray mustn't make such a mistake again, and it is your
played over again. The last two movements are really insignificant, and if duty and mine to tell him so before it is too late. The quill-scratching
must hold together in these matters. As Benjamin Franklin, the
the Trio is kept before the public the only excuse for doing so is the popular guild
"thrifty," said to his compatriots at the singing of the Declaration of
garb of the second movement. Mr. Richard Hoffman played with great Independence,
" gentlemen we must all hang together in this matter or—we
finish and his famous clear touch. The Schumann Quartette in F, op. 41, shall all hang separately."
However, the Schomacker factory is not likely
No. 2, brought the entertainment to a close.
The Fifth Soiree will take place on the evening of March 8th, with Mr. to go into mourning while the vigilant Col. Gray has it in hand.
As your Chicago correspondent has probably informed you ere this, the
9. B. Mills as pianist.
Mapleson troupe did not find their lines cast in places so pleasant there as
EOSTEE & BIAL'S CONCERT HALL.
while they were in this city. I learn that there were severe disappoint-
INCE Maurice Dengremont left the Concert Hall in Twenty-third street ments caused by the illness of one or another artist, thus making changes
things have come back to their original basis. The price of 25 cents of opera necessary at short notice. The season here, as I told you two
admission (on Sundays 50 cents) has been adopted, smoking and drinking in weeks ago, was a lucky one in this as well as in other respects. Think of
the hall has been again allowed, and the system of reserved seats has been ten consecutive operas without a single change of cast or a single appear-
discontinued. We think that the management did a wise thing to return to ance of the manager's representative before the curtain, either for explana-
the former standard, and will reap benefits from the change in time. The tion or apology! It was an agreeable novelty. " They say " that the Weber
character of the audience has changed since Gilmore's Band furnished the representative here, Mr. J. A. Goetze, grew furiously enthusiastic on the
the music. Formerly, when Rudolf Bial wielded the baton, the Teutonic great " Favorita " night. Picture our worthy and staid old friend leaping
element was prevalent; now, the majority of the patrons are Americans. As upon his seat and waving his hat at the end of the third act! Two sympath-
Americans have been docile scholars for the last twenty years, and learned izing friends went over the next day to inquire after the welfare of the hat
io drink lager beer, we do not think that Messrs. Koster & Bial care what and its good-natured owner. Mr. Goetze sent a Weber upright, fresh from the
nationalities their audiences represent. Mr. P. S. Gilmore is a great favor- factory, to Signor Campanini's hotel for the tenor's use during his stay.
ite with a large class of New Yorkers, and he deserves success. His When it came back again the handsome case was almost ruined, apparently
band is well organized, and those who like noisy music will enjoy the con- by the incisive claws of a dog or a cat, moral; legs are cheaper than cases.
certs which take place nightly. The programmes are varied and comprise Next time don't send an upright.
many popular "pieces. Mr. Walter Emerson, the cornet virtuoso, improves
Just as I began to lament over the dearth of chamber music, in my
on acquaintance, and develops into a fine player. Miss Henriette Maurer, a letter of four weeks ago, the tide set in again. Among the unexpected con-
young pianiste, is heartily applauded for some piano performances which certs of this character is a series of six to be given during the winter by Mr.
are hardly suitable to the surroundings. On Sunday nights the hall is gen- G. Guhlmann. The first one took place at the Academy of Fine Arts on the
erally crowded, and the performances of the band are specially enjoyed by 29th of January. Mr. Guhlmann, who has been a resident here for ten years
people who, without being called exactly musical, are fond of music, well past,is a Leipsic graduate. He was "imported " by Miss Anna Jackson, an
played.
excellent musical enthusiast, who gave for eleven years chamber con-
certs of great interest. Mr. Guhlmann came as a violinist to lead her string
quartette, bringing a splendid certificate of recommendation from David &
ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Reinicke. He proved at once to be a better pianist than violinist, and has
THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.
busy with both instruments ever since his arrival. For several years
TJ^HE programme presented by this society at its fourth concert last Satur- been
past
he
has been the organist of St. Clement's Church.
JL day night, "A Stronghold Sure," Bach, and Beethoven's "Ninth
At
the
above-mentioned concert there was a choice but not specially
Symphony," was altogether too severe. This class of music does not
instruct the ignorant and spoils the musical digestion of even the novel programme, opening with one of Haydn's string quartettes, and
closing with Schumann's piano quartette. Mr. Guhlmann played the last
cognoscenti.
movements of F. Hiller's piano concerto in F sharp, minor, which, I
Bach's " Cantata" which Mr. Thomas claims to have adapted, but two
has not been played here before in public. Being encored, the
which has been adapted, that is reinforced by modern instrumentation, by think,
gave us Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capriccioso, which he rattled off at
many local German conductors, Rietz Rust, Nottebohm and others, is a pianist
furious pace, taking it more rapidly than Mr. Ritter used to do, which was
work which, except in the choruses, is not only uninteresting, but absolutely a quite
needless. Miss Abbie Wliinnery sang Beethoven's " Kennst du das
fatiguing. I am confident that a majority of the audience last Saturday
" and a song by Robert Franz, and did particularly well with both
night, if questioning would confirm this statement, not that the composition Land
The remainining artists who took part were Mr. R. Hennig, who
is not great, but that our audiences, with the exception of a very few. do numbers.
played two short violoncello pieces; Mr. R. Graner, violin, and Mr. F. Der-
not, and, without further fundamental experience, cannot be expected to leth,
viola.
appreciate the manifold and severely intricate beauties of this formal
The Emma Abbott Opera Company wes here for two weeks at the Chest-
example of counterpoint.
The chorus, which the society's indefatigable conductor brought forward nut Street Theatre, and did remarkably good business, closing on the 12th
to assist in the rendering of the programme, did its work reasonably well; but inst. There were twelve evening and four afternoon performances during
that it was properly balanced or paid much attention to shading, or that it the fortnight's engagement, so there was plenty of work to do for the
produced the body of tone one would expect from so great a collection of artists and not a little for the faithful listener who attended regularly. The
singers, cannot, with truth, be asserted. I am not surprised. Mr. Thomas repertoire was larger than usual. It included the " Bohemian Girl " three
is but a human being and cannot, nor can any one else, in six months pro- times, "Martha," "Maritana," "Lucia" and " Trovatore" each twice,
" Paul and Virginia," Romeo and Juliet," and "Fra Diavolo." Miss Emma
duce perfection in a chorus which normally must take much longer.
displayed the same unlimited endurance, the same abundant gush in
The Oratorio Society, with which this Chorus is not to be compared, Abbott
acting, and the same vocal faults as heretofore. In " Martha " her " Last
worked faithfully, long and hard before any claim of more than average at- her
" was extravagantly applauded. She sang it indifferently—
tainment was made for it, and it was guided by quite, in that direction, as Rose of Snmmer
of the roses as " fa-ha-ded and deh-hed." She had a pecuniarly
talented a leader and encouraged by quite as enthusiastic and energetic sym- speaking
successful benefit in "Maritana," and her " Scenes that were brightest " was
pathies.
very prettily rendered. The other principal singers of the troupe were of
The singers forming the quartettejof the evening were Miss Hubbell, so- little account, excepting always Brignoli, who stood among the whole tribe,
prano; Miss Winant, alto; Mr. Fritch, tenor, and Mr. Remmertz, bass. In as a giant among dwarfs. There was more than the usual amusement over
the cantata both gentlemen exhibited a painful lack of any idea of this class his acting, which certainly never was worse, and over his few laughable
of music; the latter, in the duett with Miss Hubbell, demonstrating, more lapses into the English tongue. These latter were seldom, as he clung to
than ever, the entire absence of this style of vocalization, without which his the mellifluous Italian as does his countryman, Salvini. He sang "Fair
part therein cannot be even approximately rendered. The ladies did their Land of Poland," however, in English, or what was supposed to be English.
share of the work much more satisfactorily.
His method of singing was resplendent by the side of his companions. Mr.
So far as the orchestra is concerned its performance was of such excel- Castle did only one role really well while here—that of Bon Cesar de Bazan
lence both in the cantata and the symphony, " a giant's gigantic work," in "Maritana." That he always gave'with fine'.effect, and does yet. The
that nothing should be recorded of it but unstinted praise. The choral receipts for the two weeks were quite large. On the benefit night over
part, on this occasion, as it always does, exhibited the unsoncern of the $2,300 was reported as the total, and Morrissey wasn't in town to figure it up
great master for, or his ignorance of, the capabilities of the voice. Mozart either.
was by far greater in knowledge ioi how that organ should and can be
We came near losing our Academy of Music the other day. A very
treated, and would never have been chargeable with having written such
vocal impossibilities as we find here, which we tolerate and even find pleas- handsome Baptist church, half a block below it on Broad street, took fire in
ant; or believe we do, merely because they are found in the score of the grey of the morning from the old cause, a defective flue. The flames
wiped out the huge church in less than an hour, and also succeeded in
Beethoven.
VHITE.
destroying Horticultural Hall, a large and handsome building, the main
Mr. Theodore Thomas wil give a series of concerts in Chicago, begin- auditorium of which was about the size of Stein way Hall. This brought the
ning February 23. The programmes will include " La Damnation de Faust" fire up almost to the walls of the Academy, only a narrow street intervening.
(twice), a Beethoven night and two miscellaneous concerts.
After a hard battle the building was saved. There was a very handsome and.
OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENTS.
T
S