Music Trade Review

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April 5th, 1881.
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
They were studying music at Nice under Signor Lamperti, and frequented
the Opera House.
In a recent letter on Chopin at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore,
Asger Hamerik, the musical director of the Institute, said that Stephen
Heller, a bosom friend of Chopin's, told him that the Polish pianist rendered
his own works in an easy, natural manner, altogether different from the
extravagant and affected one adopted by most modern performers of his
works.
The fourth organ and harp recital of Geo. W. Morgan and Miss Maud
Morgan at Chickering Hall took place on Thursday afternoon.
Mme. Murio Celli and her pupils were to give a grand operatic enter-
tainment at Chickering Hall on Saturday evening, April 2. They were to
be assisted by Signor Arditi, Mme. Sacconi, Signori Lazzarini, Del Puente
and Montegriffo.
The Shakespeare Dramatic and Musical Club gave their annual recep-
tion and ball, preceded by a musical and dramatic programme, on Thursday
evening, March 31st, at the Lexington Avenue Opera House.
At the close of the opera of " Olivette," given by Henry Laurent's com-
pany on the evening of March 26th, at the Opera House in Newport, Sheriff
Crandall called upon Mr. Laurent with twenty-three warrants of arrest which
had been sworn out by the members of the company for pay overdue. Three
of the writs were subsequently withdrawn. The treasurer of the Providence
Opera House furnished the money, and Mr. Laurent and Mile. Correlli with-
drew from the company, substitutes being provided for the remainder of the
season.
At the wedding of Mr. George Henschel, Mr. Robert Thallon, a class-
mate of his at Leipsic, presided at the organ. The great German hymn,
" Ein feste burg," and an improvisation of Mr. Henschel's duet, " O that we
two were Maying," formed the processional, the " Wedding March " closing
the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Henschel have accepted an engagement dur-
" ing the last week to return to America after spending the summer in
England.
Mr. George F. Bristow's opera, " R i p Van Winkle," is to be included in
the repertory of the Ideal Opera Company next year. It was first performed
in 1855, when it was much admired for the beauty of its music, though it
was deficient in dramatic interest. The libretto has been entirely re-written.
Mr. Bristow has added many new numbers, while the last part of the original
score is preserved.
A. grand concert was announced by Mr. Mapleson at the Academy of
Music for Sunday evening, April 3, at which the principal members of Her
Majesty's Opera Company were to appear.
It is reported that Mme. Madeline Schiller, the pianist, who was so pop-
ular in this city and Boston some years ago, will return to this country in
August. During much of her absence abroad she has lived in Paris.
Mr. George Henschel will give a vocal recital at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music on Friday afternoon, April 8. He will be assisted by his wife (Miss
Lilian Bailey).
One of the largest musical receptions of this season occurred in the
afternoon of March 29 at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Musgrave,
No. 535 Fifth avenue. About 250 guests assembled in the parlors and
listened to excellent music. Among those who entertained the company
were Mine. Etelka Gerster, Signor Italo Campanini, Signor Ravelli, Signor
Galassi and several other prominent artists of Colonel Mapleson's Opera
Company.
An English version of " La Mascotte," the latest opera by Audran, the
composer of " Olivette," was to be brought out at the Gaiety Theatre, Bos-
ton, on the 4th of April.
The many friends of Mme. Julia Rive-King, the accomplished pianist,
will regret to learn that she was prostrated by sudden illness in the town of
Mount Vernon, Ohio, recently, and has been compelled to cancel a number
of engagements.
Miss Lelia G. Lowerre, has returned to New York, and will appear at the
concert of the Philharmonic Club, in Chickering Hall, on the evening of
April 5.
Mr. Gamier, tenor, from The Opera, Paris, arrived here on the morning
of March 23, on the steamship France, and at once joined the De Beauplan
Grand Opera Company in Chicago.
Mrs. Jesse S. Yennie, gave the third in .her series of musical recitals this
afternoon, in the parlors of No. 3 East Fourteenth street, and was assisted on
the occasion by Mrs. Belle Cole, the Mrs. Conron, Miss Julia Thomas, Mr.
H. R. Humphries and Mr. George Kyle.
Mr. George Henschel was so much pleased with the proficiency of the
Mendelssohn Glee Club, at whose last concert he sang, that he expressed his
desire to write a four-part song for them, and this distinguished mark of
favor having been accepted with pleasure by the .club, Mr. Henschel has
sent a song, which is now in rehearsal. It is of a serious nature, and with-
out solo parts or accompaniment. It will be sung at the next concert of the
club, about the middle of April.
Mr. Fred Harvey, a tenor, well-known on the concert stage, has joined
the troupe at the Standard Theatre, and made his first appearance in opera
on Saturday, March 26th, in " Billee Taylor."
Mr. S. G. Pratt, of Chicago, is desirous of producing his symphony,
" The Prodigal Son," and is taking steps to secure the accomplishment of
his purpose.
The Handel and Haydn Society of Boston will give Bach's " Passion
Music " on Good Friday, and Mendelssohn's "St. P a u l " on Easter Day.
Mr. Henschel will sing in both oratorios, and Mrs. Henschel (Miss Lillian
Bailey) will sing in " St. Paul."
The Italian Opera House at Nice, has been destroyed by fire. The fire
commenced soon after the curtain had risen for the performance of " Lu-
cia," on tho evening of March 22. The fire was caused by a gas explosion
at the back of the stage, which set fire to the scenery. The flames spread
85
with alarming rapidity and soon enveloped the gas meter. The supply of
gas being cut off, the body of the house was soon plunged in darkness. The
crowd pressed madly toward the limited means of exit. The audience was
large, and in the panic hundreds were thrown down and trodden under foot.
Those who endeavored to extricate the people who were hopelessly jammed
between the doorway and the passages describe the scene as terrible. The
shrieks of the wounded mingled with the cries of those in the galleries, whoso
every means of escape was cut off. Mme. Donadio, the prima donna, was
saved ; but the tenor, basso, baritone and a number of chorus singers were
burned. The impresario, Ferdinand Strakosch, was slightly hurt.
Leo Delibes is writing a new opera in three acts, destined especially for
Mile. Marie Van Zandt.
Planquette, the composer of " T h e Chimes of Normandy" (" Les
Cloches de Corneville "), is writing a new work entitled " R i p Van Winkle,"
founded on the American legend.
The band of the Imperial Opera House, Vienna, lately gave a concert,
attended by three thousand persons, at Gratz.
" Lohengrin " has been well received at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
The French Government have given 5,000 francs to the Popular Concerts
at Angers.
The " Sentry," by Reinecke, has been performed at the Teatro Royal,
Copenhagen.
Ghislanzoni is writing a libretto for Ponchielli.
Liszt will attend the performance of his " Christus " in Berlin.
The deaths are announced—at Padua, of Professor F. Coletti, and his
mother, Madame Coletti Codesca; at Milan, of Virginia Crespi, a prima
donna; and of Antonio Burgio, baritone; and at Turin, aged 61, of Francesco
Migliara, vocalist.
News from Paris states that Madame Patti has definitely decided not to
go to America next winter. Most of those who knew the wayward prima
donna believed she would, after all, change her mind; and it is now likely
that she will sing in the autumn at Milan during the Exhibition; at Madrid,
in December, and at Monaco in January and February. Her Paris engage-
ment is so successful that it is very likely she will return there to have
another season in March and April of next year. Her receipts in Paris now
average about $6,000 a night.
Miss Thursby has appeared at a Colonne concert, Paris.
The Musical Standard announces that Mr. Charles Mackeson, recently
editor of the Choir, has been appointed editor of the Monthly Musical Re-
cord, London.
The 40th anniversary of Suppe's debut in Vienna as conductor of the
Josephstadt Theatre at the recommendation of Donizetti was celebrated
March 5.
Madame Carlotta Patti has recently appeared at Bombay, Allahabad,
and Calcutta.
*
Signor Bergamini's opera, " Ugo e Parisina," has been produced with
success at the Municipal Theatre, Ferrara; Madame Crosmond and Signor
Aldighieri singing the chief parts.
Herr Genee's comic opera, " Nisida'" was produced at the Frederick Wil-
liam Theatre, Berlin, March 5.
London Figaro:—Mr. Maurice Strakosch has, since his return to Eng-
land, confined himself to haunts too aristocratic to run any danger of meet-
ing with humble journalists. The truth is—so at any rate report pretends—
that Mr. Maurice has appended his valuable signature to a document by
which Herr Neumann and the Leipsic troupe will not come to England to play
the " Niebelungen Ring " unless he deposits by the first of April the compara-
tive bagatelle of £16,000. For this trifle of £1,000 a night Mr. Maurice Stra-
kosch will have the services of the Leipsic artists with dresses and scenery.
Mr. Maurice will have the further privilege of paying the salaries of Frau
Uaterna, Herr and Frau Vogl, and of providing a theatre, advertisements,
and an orchestra of 80 performers: it being estimated that the total expenses
would amount to rather over £1,500 per night. A unit more or less is a trifle
to Mr. Maurice Strakosch, whose mighty brain soars far above the platitudes
of arithmetic. But at present Mr. Strakosch, like a spirited old war-horse
in a quagmire, is stuck on that £16,000.
The libretto of Gilbert and Sullivan's new comic opera has been read to
the company that is to play it, though Mr. Sullivan's share in the work is
not yet complete. " It is," says a London journal, " intended as the final
stroke to Maudle, Postlethwaite & Co. From what I hear, it is very enter-
taining and considered by all engaged to be the best piece of writing Mr.
Gilbert has done. The libretto, it is said, is a development of the " Bab
Ballad " of the " Two Curates."
Schumann's " Faust " was given by the Society of the Friends of Music
at Vienna, March 13th.
Miss Emma Thursby, at present in Paris, is engaged for a series of con-
certs in Madrid.
Mme. Rose Hersee has been very successful at Sydney as Carmen in
Bizet's celebrated opera.
The title of " Professor" has been bestowed on Rudolf Otto, member of
the choir at the Cathedral and teacher at the Royal High School, Berlin.
The members of the orchestra at the Imperial Opera House, Vienna,
have memoralized the General-lntendancy for an augmentation of pay. They
represent that, in consequence of the greater activity now displayed in oper-
atic matters, their duties at the Opera House often engross seven or eight
hours a day, preventing them from procuring other employment, while their
daily salary in most instances is hardly two florins, or four shillings, a m:s-
erable pittance for artists belonging to one of the most celebrated bands n
the world. The memorialists are backed up by Herr Jahn, the new art
director, and there is a fair prospect that their prayer will be granted by the
General-In tendency.