January 19, 1922
MUSICAL COURIER
8
can ever have more—can be said to have really grasped their full significance, who has not likewise heard Professor Tovey’s elucidations.	William Saunders.
VECSEY AROUSES ENTHUSIASM
WITH CLEVELAND SYMPHONY
Cleveland, Ohio, January 9, 1921.—Great was the enthusiasm aroused by the noted Hungarian violinist, Ferenc Vecsey. We have come to take faultless technic as a matter of course, the sine qua non of an artist, but the intangible something that makes the virtuoso, the grand style, is attained by only one or two in a generation. This power Vecsey possesses.
IVtr. Vecsey played the Sibelius concerto for violin in D minor, op. 4, which the composer has dedicated to him. It is a tremendous concerto, really more of a symphony in its scope, and calls for the last word in technic on the part of the soloist, and is dramatic to the Nth degree. The orchestral part is no perfunctory accompaniment, and its performance was noteworthy. The appreciation of the soloist by the members of the orchestra was most unusual, and seemed to be keenly felt by Mr. Vecsey.
The orchestral offerings were the Mozart symphony in E flat major, played in true archaic style, and in the last two movements the growth in perfection of the string section was given a wonderful opportunity for display. The clever imitation of the woodwinds was a joy—the bassoons had some rare chuckles at the expense of the higher voiced instruments. The grace of Mozart remains unchallenged.
The symphonic poem, “The Fountains of Rome,” Respighi, first heard here last winter under Toscanini’s baton, was given a beautiful rendition by Director Sokoloff and his men, and in no way suffered by comparison with its premier. Smetana’s overture, “The Bartered Bride,” closed the program,	M. B. P.
Mengelberg and the Philharmonic
Willem Mengelberg, guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, sailed from Holland for New York on January 18 to assume the direction of the orchestra for the balance of the current season, with the exception of a series of concerts at the Metropolitan Opera House to be given by the Philharmonic Society on ten Tuesday evenings and two Sunday afternoons, several of these concerts being conducted by Arthur Bodanzky, also a guest conductor. The first concert of this series will also mark the first appearance of Mengelberg with the orchestra, both Mengelberg and Bodanzky conducting on that evening, Tuesday, January 31.
This will not be Mengelberg’s first appearance at the head of the Philharmonic orchestral forces, however, for he was a guest conductor in 1906, with other European directors of note. It remained for the merger of the Philharmonic Society with the National Symphony Orchestra last spring to bring about his engagement to divide the present concert season with Stransky, whose last Philharmonic concert of the season takes place on Sunday afternoon, January 29.
It is Mengelberg who, with Stransky, is responsible for the personnel of this year’s Philharmonic, which includes in its strings many of last year’s National Symphony Orchestra. These musicians played under Mengelberg with the National and their engagement for the Philharmonic was a matter of agreement between Mengelberg and Stransky. The conductors have also made their respective selections of programs for the Philharmonic concerts so that one might not choose the favorites of the other.
Mengelberg’s first appearance in the Carnegie Hall series of Philharmonic performances will be on Friday afternoon, February 3. On Sunday afternoon, February S, he will conduct his first concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Strauss’ Activities
Claire Dux, soprano of the Chicago Opera Association, made three appearances with Dr. Strauss. She was soloist at a New York concert, with the Philharmonic Orchestra; in Chicago, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and in Kansas City, with Dr. Strauss at the piano. Among other soloists who appeared with Dr. Strauss were Elena Gerhardt, George Meader, Paul Kochanski, Emil Heerman and Michel Penha (who played the cello solo in “Don Quixote” at one of the Metropolitan Opera House concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra).
Practically all of Dr. Strauss’ orchestral compositions were performed under his direction during the tour. The list includes “Ein Heldenleben,” suite from “Der Bürger Als Edelmann,” “Macbeth,” “Don Quixote,” “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” “Salome’s Tanz,” “Tod und Verklarung,” “Don Juan,” “Till Eulenspiegel,” music from “Guntram” and “Feuersnot” and the “Sinfonia Domestica.” Dr. Strauss also directed works by Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, Weber and Vivaldi. About fifty of Dr. Strauss’ songs were sung to his accompaniments at the piano or with orchestra. He also attended rehearsals of the Chicago Opera Association’s revival of “Salome.”
Sylva Sings in New York
Marguerite Sylva, the well known operatic soprano, has been filling a number of concert engagements in New York City lately. She was one of the stars at the Dippell concert given at the Liederkranz Club on Saturday evening, January 7, and on the following evening was soloist with the Bernstein Trio at the home of Mrs. Jones.
Cleveland Orchestra Plays Turnbull Work
Edwin L. Turnbull’s transcription for orchestra of the Tschaikowsky theme and variations from the trio, op. SO, was well received when it was played by the Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, December 18.
Three Appearances Here for Schnitzer
Germaine Schnitzer, pianist, will give the first of three recitals at the Town Hall, New York, on Sunday afternoon, January 29.
Yvette Guilbert in a Single Recital
Yvette Guilbert will give her only New York recital this season on Thursday evening, January 26, at the Town Hall.
FLOOD OF PIANISTS INUNDATES SCOTLAND
Cortot, Lamond, Hofmann, Myra Hess and Rosenthal—An Interesting Musical Exhibition
few recitals we should not, for a world, have cared to have missed.
Rosenthal.
For the first of the Paterson Orchestral Concerts, which constitute the true magnetic center of the Edinburgh musical season, no opening could have been more auspicious than that which comprised an all-Beethoven program, with Rosenthal as solo pianist. There were only four items on the program, the “Egmont” overture, the “Emperor” concerto, the “Sonata Appassionata,” and the seventh symphony. One has only to think of Rosenthal in relation to the concerto and sonata, and let imagination do the rest. He is still a giant among pianists. His playing of the concerto was indeed a masterpiece, and never was soloist better supported by an orchestra. I have no hesitation in asserting that I have never heard it better performed.
In the playing of the symphony the band showed how vastly it had improved since last year. Landon Ronald, the conductor of the orchestra, is a genius who can play upon his forces as an instrumentalist plays upon his instrument.
,Myra Hess.
By the pure strength of personality and sincerity of aim and ideal, Myra Hess has attained, in a comparatively short space of time, a degree of popularity in Scotland such as few women pianists anywhere attain in a lifetime, and it was a happy thought on her part to give the Edinburgh public another chance of hearing her before her departure for America. Her program was one that was calculated to appeal more strongly to musicians than to the ordinary average concertgoer, yet it was followed by a large audience with keen interest and appreciation. It opened with Bach and finished with Chopin, but sandwiched between came César Franck, Debussy and Atbeniz, an imposing trio. Miss Hess as usual rose to the occasion in every sense of the word, and demonstrated that she possesses a deep insight into the essential purpose and intention of the works in question. But with it all I preferred her renderings of the Bach “Italian Concerto” and the Chopin polonaise in A flat, both of which were given perfectly exquisite performances.
Ancient Instruments.
The culmination of the pianistic activities of this remarkable month was experienced in a magnificent exhibition of ancient musical instruments which was held for a fortnight each in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The exhibition had been instituted by Messrs. John Broadwood & Sons, Limited, the well known firm of pianoforte manufacturers, of London, and it embodied an ideal capable of the most extensive development, and the possibilities of which are well nigh limitless. A descriptive booklet of a most interesting explanatory character was issued, and by its aid one was placed in a position, as one walked round the show, to trace the evolution and development of les instruments ct cordes frappes in a way that no amount of mere literary study could either affect or suggest.
But the real value of the exhibition lay in the recitals given upon the instruments—those of A. M. Henderson, of Glasgow, whose knowledge of keyboard music is so catholic and so extensive, but especially that of Prof. Tovey of the University of Edinburgh. No one can be said to have truly heard the works of Bach, Rameau, Couperin, and Scarlatti, who has not heard them performed upon the instruments for which they were written, and no one who has only a passing acquaintance with these instruments—and who, apart from the most favored individuals,
Edinburgh, Scotland, December 7, 1921.—Whether as a result of accident or design it is not easy to say, but the curious fact remains that Scotland was inundated during the month of November by a perfect army of big pianists, while December bids fair to rival it with an equal number, and no less important community, of members of the violin tribe, of which more in a later communication.
Cortot and Lamond.
First among the immigrants came the Frenchman Cortot,^ in whose playing there is a peculiarly personal charm which places him upon a pedestal of greatness by no means inferior to, but essentially different from, that of all of his contemporaries. His program as usual was all in the larger forms, and was characterized by an outstanding degree of high seriousness, and profundity of feeling. Cortot is one of the few masters one can never hear too often, and whose work always defies criticism.
Then came Lamond. One can never forget a Lamond recital; it impresses itself upon the brain of one by the very dynamic force of its effectuation. It was all Beethoven and it was all Lamond—need any more be said.
Hofmann.
The second concert of the “International Celebrity Series” introduced to us once more a pianist, in the person of Josef Hofmann, who had not previously been heard in Scotland for many years. The genius of Hofmann is distinctive and unique. There is something feminine in his touch and interpretative outlook, and the “Appassionata” of Beethoven, as given by him, was more exotic than healthily^ optimistic, yet it was extraordinarily interesting and fascinating. None the less he was more at home in the Chopin numbers; and in his playing of an exceptionally beautiful Gluck gavotte, arranged by Brahms, he was perfectly delightful. Taken in its entirety, this was one of the
Management HAENSEL & JONES, Aeolian Hall, New York
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Eminent Conductor—Teaching,
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RUTH PETER
as
The leading role in Victor Herbert’s
“Sweethearts”
Presented by Rollin Bond’s “Washingtonians”
December 28, 29 and 30
THE WASHINGTON, D. C., TIMES, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1921.
The vocal “star” of the opera is our delicately textured Ruth Peter, whose young and fresh voice is gaining the balance of a maturing art and who invites comparison with professional singers. Hers is a mellow, free apd beautiful voice that she uses delightfully. And she has gained a dramatic ease and naturalness that is bringing through a little artist who should reach her Marguerite in Faust, by means of Michaela and the lyric roles.
The funmakers have an important share in this comic opera, and Ruth Peter in the scene with her Mother Goose kiddies enters into this group too.—Jessie MacBride.
THE WASHINGTON POST, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1921.
To Miss Ruth Peter, as Sylvia, perhaps the greatest amount of praise must be given for her splendid vocal renditions. She has a rich soprano that fills every corner of the auditorium and is most delightful in every detail.
THE WASHINGTON HERALD, DECEMBER 30, 1921.
The vocal “star” of the opera is Ruth Peter, who invites comparison with professional singers. Hers is a mellow, free and beautiful voice. And she hàs gained dramatic ease and naturalness.
Ruth Peter, an artist pupil of EDNA BISHOP DANIEL STUDIOS: 1210 G Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.