January 5, 1922 VIENNA
(Continued from page 23)
much as of a musical event, when, before an audience representative of Vienna’s most cultured musical element, he produced, for the first time anywhere, Paolo Litta’s “Déesse nue,” termed by the expressionist Italian composer
an esoteric poem for dance, violin, piano and triangle.” The piece embodies a most interesting attempt of allotting to the human body, as it were, the part of an individual instrument in the chamber music ensemble. The way in which this daring problem was solved—with Anton Trost at the piano and with Mila Cirul, a young Russian girl from the Ellen Tels School, assuming the role of the human “instrument”—enforced admiration for the talented and enterprising young American who showed himself to be not only a genius of the violin, but a remarkable stage manager as well.
Eduard Erdman Makes Vienna Debut.
Wadler s great colleague of the bow, Fritz Kreisler, too, has left us, after giving a third recital to an overflowing hall, which at the end turned into a charming little family affair when Kreisler called his American wife out on the platform to share with him the speeches and honors bestowed upon him in his double capacity as a great instrumentalist and a beloved Santa Claus responsible for so many charities in behalf of Austria’s starving children.
Another Vienna favorite among violinists, Alma Moodie, has paid us a short visit again. To this young Australian falls the credit of having introduced us to Eduard Erdman, the Russian pianist-composer, who had, strangely enough, never been heard here before. His sonata evening with Alma Moodie proved him to be a pianist of supreme qualities, gifted with a truly tempestuous temperament. Quite his opposite is Dirk Schäfer, the celebrated Dutch pianist, who strives for more intimate effects in which he displays a fine artistic taste.
Two Sensational Russians.
The pianistic surprise of the season thus far, however, has been a Russian player, Alexander Borowsky, who came to us after his great initial successes in London and Paris. The small sized audience which greeted him at his first V ienna recital, anticipating one of the customary debut concerts which the blasé metropolitan musician hardly ever patronizes, was fairly astonished at the discovery they made as the program went on. Since then Borowsky has given three more recitals before audiences which grew both in Sjj■ ?nd enthusiasm as he graduated to larger halls, and in addition to these recitals he was called in as soloist with the Konzertverein Orchestra, under Löwe, to play Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto. Here is a pianist who knows how to make interesting programs, who dares to play ultramodern music and still succeeds in drawing the crowds by his marvelous musicianship, perfect technical command, and by a magnetism which absolutely convinces in spite of his refreshingly unaffected outward appearance, minus the traditional “long, black hair and finger nails,” as unkind \ ìennese put it. Borowsky prefers the radicals, particularly the Russian modernists: Scriabine, first of all, but Medtner as well, and also Prokofieff, but his interpretations of Bach and Beethoven are perfect in style, while his Liszt lacks none of the brilliance required for these virtuoso vehicles.
His was an overwhelming success equalled by that of his compatriot, Belousoff, who displayed a thorough mastery of the cello such as has become a rarty in our times. In commenting on his recitals, Vienna critics conjured up memories of Pablo Casals, whose triumphs, if ever, will be redoubled by none if not by Belousoff. The sonata evenings given jointly by these two Russians and devoted chiefly to the classics were marvels of the true ensemble spirit. American cellists, furthermore, will be interested in a discovery which Belousoff has made and which he disclosed here to the great surprise of local instrumentalists. This Russian seems to have found the secret of producing, if desired, each tone on the cello simultaneously with its "corresponding “overtone,” which rings exactly one octave higher, plainly audible. It is a thrilling and almost uncanny effect which creates the impression as if the tone and its “echo” were produced at the same time and on the same string. Radical modernist composers, please note !
Singers from Merrie England.
Kew musical impulses, fortunately, have gained influence also upon the recitals of our concert singers, who will no longer be satisfied with the typical program ranging from Schubert to Strauss, via Brahms and Wolf. In this respect an English singer, Dorothy Moulton, was particularly welcome with a program which, after paying homage to German, Italian and English masters, turned resolutely to rarely heard modern French and English composers. Of the latter, besides Arnold Bax and Eugene Goossens, Arthur Bliss ballad, “Madam Noy,״ attracted attention by its un-usual setting for small orchestra, and, in no lesser degree,
l lts Jokingly modern tendencies. Dorothy Robson another English singer who has just received the last finish-ing touches at the hands of a well known Vienna vocalist achieved similar success ׳״ith an internationally tinted program evincing a strong preference for modern Gallic composers.
More and more the ambitions of celebrated opera singers turn to the more subtle, and, at any rate, diametrically opposed work of the concert platform. Let us mention in passing m this connection, the recent concerts of such generally acknowledged operatic stars as Maria Ivogiin now of the Chicago Opera, and Carl Aagaard-Oestvig the favorite tenor of the Staatsoper, who is likely some day to delight Amercan audiences with his splendid artistic work both in opera and recital. Another artist who commands operatic and lieder style with equal authority is the fine Munich basso, Paul Bender, while Hans Duhan’s noble baritone voice and subtle treatment of Bach, Schubert and btrauss rqake one hesitate whether to give preference to his concert singing or to his remarkable dramatic portrayals as displayed on the stage of the Vienna Staatsoper.
By way of contrast it will be interesting to note the case ot Helge Lindberg, who has chosen the opposite, and, apparently, more difficult route, from the concert platform to the operatic stage. This Scandinavian giant, gifted with a physique which a Carpentier or Dempsey might envy, owns a baritone voice of so little sensuous beauty as to call up
MUSICAL COURIER
heavier than all the other three of Brahms together (I was attracted to it some years ago, after a New York critic called it stupid and tiresome) looms larger and larger in symphonic history, for its harmonic and rhythmic originality and the boldness of its design truly mark an epoch. Are not the opening measures of this masterpiece as significant in one direction of musical development as those of “Tristan” are of another?
Conductor Furtwängler, who has become a first-class drawing card—an orchestral matinée idol—in Germany, is a program maker par excellence. He opened this particular program with another of those concerti grossi of Handel which he has been resuscitating—a most engaging suite of movements for string orchestra with two solo violins and solo cello (D minor), the solos being excellently played by Messrs, van den Berg, Dahmen and Kropholler —Hollanders three. Such enthusiasm as there was at this concert is seen rarely at orchestral concerts even in Germany. Surely Furtwängler is the man of the hour just now.
Collegiate Opera.
Berlin’s two opera houses, despite raised prices, are filled nightly (with the “newly rich,” say the “newly poor”), drab mediocrity and a changeless repertory notwithstanding] In Charlottenburg they have restaged “Bohême” with new scenic frills but the same stale-beer hilarity that goes for French esprit. The erstwhile Royal Opera is busy with the preparation of Braunfels’ “Birds,” after Aristophanes, in which the absence of the original Nightingale, Maria Ivogiin, will be sorely felt.
Meantime the Opera House has been the scene of a pretty though not wholly successful experiment—the revival of Goethe’s “Erwin und Elmire,” with the music of the Duchess Amalie of Saxe-Weimar, for whom the drama was originally written as a Singspiel text. The duchess, who wrote the music for a private court circle in 1776 (i. e., before Mozart’s music had become known in North Germany) must have been a very accomplished amateur, who used the same sources—the musical monnaie courante of the time—as the great master, but without any of his originality and ingenuity. The book, had it been written by an ordinary person, would be considered twaddle; as the product of a genius it is a curiosity.
Prof. Max Friedlànder, of the Berlin University, once exchange professor at Harvard, held an entertaining lecture (under the auspices of the Lessing Hochschule) before the curtain, and thus for one afternoon the Opera was turned into a laboratory of art.
Farewell Supper to the Kreislers.
After the last of Fritz Kreislers concerts in Berlin a supper was given to the artist and his wife at the home of Frau Wolff, the principal proprietor of the managerial establishment of Hermann Wolff & Jules Sachs. Among the guests were Julia Culp and her husband, William Gin-zkey, Arthur Nikisch, Prof. Franz Schreker, Barbara Kemp, Bertha Kahsch (the American actress), Reinhold von Warlich, His Excellency Ambassador von Below Mme. Tuszar (wife of the Ambassador of Czecho-Slo-vakia), Eugene Landau (the Spanish consul-general), Baron and Baroness von Kleydorff-Egenleff. The press was represented by Theodor Wolff, editor of the Berlin Tageblatt ; Georg Bernhardt, editor of the Vossische Zeitung; Prof’ Adolf Weissmann, Siegmund Pisling, Victor Hahn and César Saerchinger, with their wives.
Cesar Saerchinger.
Fanning Wins High Commendation from Dean Butler
Cecil Fanning has just completed a brief Middle Western tour which included recitals in Benton Harbor, Mich.; Waterloo, la.; Joplin, Mo. ; Lawrence, Kan.; Leavenworth’ Kan., and Winfield, Kan. Everywhere he was greeted by capacity audience and forced to add many extra numbers Following his appearance at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Dean Harold L.. Butler wrote the following letter to Dean Stout, of Southwestern College, Winfield, which was published in the Winfield Daily Courier of December 9 : University of Kansas,
^	״	Lawrence, Kans., December 8, 1921.
Dean Earl Stout,
Southwestern College,
Winfield, Kans.
My dear Mr. Stout:
This is just a word to say that I hope you will advise all of your students to go and hear Fanning, Friday night. He gave a recital here last night and made as big a hit as Hempel and Friedman and that is saying a lot. He sang five encores, repeated two of his program numbers, and at the close of the program not more than a dozen out of 1,300 started for the door. The rest stayed in their seats and demanded still another song. He was in fine shape and really made a sensational success. I hope he will do as well for you in Winfield.
34
BERLIN
(Continued from.page 8)
mood in the second (a theme and variations). The third is a lively intermezzo, but only the last breaks through the lyric calm to reach impassionate climaxes and to burst into temperamental rhythmic spurts. There are some interesting sound effects—harmonics, etc.—and an attempt at modern “color,” but on the whole the consistency of the piece does not go beyond Brahms. As far as it goes, it is both sympathetic and convincing.
Franco Alfano, however, right in the first movement of bis quartet in D major (masterfully interpreted by the Budapest String Quartet) plunges into a search for new beauties. For stretches it is only a search; there are profound polyphonic problems that are not wholly solved. Austere of mien, and solid of substance, this music, free from all impressionism, betrays individual expressive powers of high degree. A noble melody rises in the second movement, nobly developed, and enhanced by sensitive sound effects, while the last reflects the atmosphere of Spring in its lighter tones. A serious work, sincerely felt, ■and extremely difficult.
The Budapesters, by the way, who in technical finish and bravura are probably without rivals in Europe today, were the object of a remarkable demonstration of appreciation, after an indescribably delicate and graceful rendering of the “Lark” quartet of Haydn which preceded, and especially after the racy playing of Dvorak’s “American” quartet which followed the Alfano.
“Mitropa."
The Russian wave, of which we spoke in a previous letter, has subsided, but not wholly ebbed away. A number of Muscovite musicians have recently succeeded in getting away from Bolshevikia, and one by one they are showing themselves in the concert halls. It is remarkable how much capital the Russian refugees (who were reputed to have had everything but their lives taken way from them) still seem to possess. The Russian colony in Berlin is evidently a center of elegance and savoir vivre.
A big Russian concert given under the auspices of a Russian magazine published in Berlin, “Theater and Life,” was a most opulent affair. The Russians had engaged the Philharmonic Orchestra and Arthur Nikisch (at a figure which made the venerable conductor exclaim, “Why go to America?”), and served up a heterogeneous bill of fare from Borodine to one Vladimir Wetzl, whose music, like the luxuriously gowned audience applauding the vocal soloist, Mme. Poliakowa, was aptly described by someone as “Mitropa.” It all did somehow smack of the Orient Express. Only the sleepers were missing—a sore lack. . . . The foreign element, you see, is not always a favorable factor.
Concerning Brahms’ “First.”
This concert, by the way, was without doubt the pinnacle of the week, for it ended with an interpretation of Brahms’ first symphony such as I do not remember having heard before. Furtwängler reconstructed the musical and spiritual substance with unerring logic and penetration, created tensions and built up climaxes which, far from theatrical, were positively soul-stirring, and prismatically dissolved the orchestral diapason so that the reputedly “gray” score stood forth in the glowing though sombre brilliance of a Rembrandt masterpiece.
Whoever said that Brahms could not orchestrate, after hearing such a performance, is made to eat his own words.
It is a method of orchestration which, against the surface coloring of some of the impressionistic scores, is as a Persian rug against a cotton print, or a mosaic of real stones against colored glass. This symphony, which weighs
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