April 6, 1922
MUSICAL COURIER
36
of the Peninsula Music Club. The artists were well received by a representative audience, and encores were called for after each group of songs. Mr. Patton delighted his audience with a dramatic rendition of “The Erl King,” by Schubert, and Miss Lennox pleased the audience equally with her singing of an aria from “Samson and Delilah.”
A music memory contest was held in this city in the public schools under the direction of Ella Hayes, supervisor of music. This is the second contest of this nature held in this city, and much interest was evident on the part of the grown-ups as well as the children. The contest closed March 14 with a concert.
The musical folk of Newport News are looking forward to a concert by Alberto Salvi, the harpist, which will be given at the Academy of Music on May 20 under the auspices of the music department of the Woman’s Club. A. L. J.
Germaine Schnitzer to Play Sousa March
A march by John Philip Sousa and selections from the works of MacDowell, Nevin and other American composers will be features of the program to be played by Germaine Schnitzer at her piano recital in Carnegie Hall, Sunday afternoon, April 9. Mme. Schnitzer had intended to play these compositions as encores, but her announcement of a popular program has caused so much discussion that she is including them in the regular numbers.
One noteworthy comment on Mme. Schnitzer’s plan to play less classical and more popular piano music in future comes from F. H. B. Byrne, of the American Piano Company, who writes:
March 30, 1922.
Dear Mme. Schnitzer:
If the item regarding your plan to play less classic music, which I saw in last evening’s papers, is true, I wish to congratulate you heartily on this decision. I am firmly of the opinion that a musician’s talents should be devoted to giving the greatest amount of pleasure to the greatest number of people, and I am equally firmly of the belief that this can be done without violating in any way one’s artistic ideals.
There is a vast amount of beautiful music that is within the understanding of the masses that is never heard in our concert halls, and your decision to devote your art to exquisite performances of such works is one, in my opinion, which will not only endear you to a great public, but will bring a realization that you are fulfilling the mission of a great artist in a way which a strict adherence^ to the great classic masterpieces can only do in part.
With kindest regards, believe me,
Faithfully yours,
(Signed F. H. B. Byrne.
Schumann Club to Give “Chambered Nautilus”
The Schumann Club, Percy Rector Stephens, conductor, will give its eighteenth concert in Aeolian Hall on April 10. The choral numbers on the program will consist of French, German, a repetition, by request, of the Czechoslovak group sung in January, and in English the “Chambered Nautilus” by Deems Taylor. Among the works of American composers, the “Chambered Nautilus” has stood as a choral of exceptional beauty. This setting of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ famous poem was composed originally for mixed chorus and orchestra, and was first performed in May, 1914, by the University Heights Choral Society under Reinald Werrenrath. It was sung by the Schola Cantorum under Kurt Schindler’s baton in April, 1916. In 1919 the arrangements for women’s voices was performed for the first time by the Schumann Club with solo, quartet, piano and organ. At the coming concert on April 10 the Chamber Music Art Society will play .the accompaniment.
Augusta Gottlow East Again
Returning from a trip that has taken her from Minnesota to Florida, Augusta Cottlow, whose success as a teacher is on a par with her 'pianistic gifts, will resume teaching at once. Miss Cottlow is not exempt from that branch of her art even when on tour, as requests often come for a lesson or two, especially from those wanting coaching on a MacDowell sonata, and which she is happy to do when her dates and time will permit. She has pupils occupying important positions in all parts of the country, from the State of Washington to Florida.
Namara Sailing for Europe This Month
After an unusually successful season in opera, concert and recital, Marguerite Namara, now on tour as soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Rudolph Ganz, is planning to sail for Europe in April, as she has had an offer to sing in Italy in some of the opera houses in the important cities there. Moreover, Mme. Namara, due to her success in London last summer and fall, is booked for concerts in England during May and June, which, together with her appearance on the continent, should make her season in Europe a busy one.
Fischer-Niemann Comes Home
Carl Fischer-Niemann, an American tenor, who has been living abroad for the iast ten years, returned home last Saturday on the steamship Rotterdam. He sang for two years at the opera in Graz, Austria, which has just been obliged to close on account of financial difficulties, and for ■the last three years had been one of the first tenors at the Vienna State Opera, where he still has a contract for three more years.
Hertz Reported to Have Resigned
A report reaches the Musical Courier from San Francisco that Alfred Hertz, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, ended his engagement with the Musical Association of San Francisco on April 2, and tendered his resignation as conductor of the orchestra, which he has directed for the past seven years. A lack of sufficient financial support is said to be the reason for his action.
Claire Dux at Carnegie Hall, April 8
Claire Dux is to interrupt her southern and middle western tour in order to give a concert at Carnegie Hall on April 8. This will be Mile. Dux’s second recital in New York this season. Richard Hageman will be at the piano and Mile. Dux’s program will include a group of Mr. Hage-rnan’s compositions.
Claire Gillespie Sings for Radio
On Tuesday evening, April 4, Claire Gillespie was scheduled to sing at thè Westinghouse Radio Station.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
(Continued from page 33.)
Hanson (Birmingham) ; same amount for violin, by Mrs. W. L. Davids (Troy) ; same amount for voice, by Mrs. C. Guy Smith (Montgomery). The judges, three in number for each department, are chosen from the Alabama Music Teachers’ Association. Contestants are marked according to percentage valuations sent by the National Federation of Music Clubs. (1) The contestants must perform entirely without words or music; (2) contestants must present a program chosen from the prescribed lists; (3) contestants must not be over twenty-one years of age. Prize winners will be presented the second time at the convention. The prescribed list for contestants includes: (Piano)—group 1, Bach prelude and fugue or a Beethoven sonata; group 2, Chopin or Schumann number; group 3, MacDowell or Cad-man number. (Violin)—group 1, one air from a composition by Vital¡, Mozart, Correlli, Vivaldi or Tartini; group 2, Beethoven (“Romance”) or Hubay (“Zephyr”). (Voice) —group 1, one aria by Handel, Mozart, Gluck or early Italian composer; group 2, aria in any language, or two songs (one in French or German and one in English).
The Literary Prospectors presented Thomas Clanton Calloway in two of his piano compositions, “Piece Heroique” and “Song of Spring;” two songs by Selma composers, “Pickaninny Rose” (words by Annelu Burns and music by Madelline Shepherd), and Ernest R. Ball’s setting of Miss Burns’ poem, “I’ll Forget You,” and “The Bird with a Broken Wing” (words by Will Allen Dromgoole and music by Florence Golson, Alabama’s noted blind girl composer of Wetumpka, Ala.). Mr. Calloway was the Montgomery composer represented on the Alabama composers’ program.
Milton Panetti, pianist and choir director of the Central Christian Church, has moved his studio to the class room of this church.
Mrs. Frank Neeley (nee Eloise Reynolds), president of the Montgomery Music Club, has been appointed as chairman for the Caruso memorial in this district by Colonel Peel, of Atlanta.
It is gratifying to the musicians of this city to see the amount of space granted them daily and weekly in the three papers of the city. Each Saturday almost a whole page is given over to the church choir programs and during the weekdays and Sundays the society columns are interspersed with programs and individual appearances of local musicians. The Montgomery Advertiser (the only morning paper) car ries a New York letter each Sunday, and Mary Frances O’Connell and her father, John C. O’Connell, look after the concert appearances for this paper. The Montgomery Journal has two gentlemen who look after the musical doings, Chester E. Johnson (city editor) and Joel Woodruff. The Montgomery Times has two splendid musicians on its staff, May Thomas Lutz (society editress) and George Ryan.	J. P. M.
New Haven, Conn., March 7, 1922.—On February 14 an academic program, under the leadership of Belle Loper Slater, was given by the St. Ambrose Music Club at Hotel Taft. The program was prefaced by a paper on “Events in the World of Music,” read by the president, Mrs. George Hill MacLean.
The recital given on February 16 in Center Church House by Jenny Lee and Jeannette Fisher was a delight. Miss Lee’s voice has tonal beauty and flexibility and her use of it is artistic. Her versatility was shown in the varied groups. Jeannette Fisher’s rendition of “Alceste De Gluck,” by Saint-Saëns, was that of a talented pianist. Her accompaniments showed delicacy of tone with adequate support.
Under the auspices of the Mary Clap Wooster Chapter, D. A. R., Mrs. Edward MacDowell gave a program of her illustrious husband’s compositions at Sprague Hall on February 17 before an enthusiastic audience, which compelled her to give several encores. She prefaced her recital with a talk on Peterborough and its growth.
An enjoyable concert was given in Woolsey Hall, February 21 by the University Glee Club of New York City assisted by Noah H. Swayne, second bass; Harry B. Jepson, organist; Harry M. Gilbert, pianist, and the Yale Glee Club. The program was varied and showed the ability of the singers. The “Hymn of Thanksgiving,” by Kremser, was an exceptionally good number. Noah Swayne proved himself a fine artist and was obliged to respond to many encores. The president of the club, William S. Haskell, a nephew of the noted contralto, Anna Louise Cary, was a prominent organist while at Yale, and his many friends were glad of this opportunity to greet him and his club.
The concert given by The Elshuco Trio at Sprague Hall, February 23, closed the fourth season of the Albert Arnold Sprague chamber concerts, and was a gem in ensemble work. The men played in perfect accord, and their performance was enhanced by the splendid work of Aurelio Giorni at the piano.
At Woolsey Hall, February 28, the following program was given by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra: Overture to “Euryanthe,” Weber; symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120, Schumann; “Danse Sacree, Danse Profane,” for harp, by Debussy; “Francesca Da Rimini Fantasy,” after Dante, op. 32, Tschaikowsky. Katharine Frazier proved herself to be a finished performer on the harp and was given delicate support by the orchestra. Musically this has been the best season for the local orchestra, which has given of its best to the New Haven public. The men who comprise the orchestra, together with David Stanley Smith, conductor, deserve the hearty thanks of all those who have had the privilege and pleasure of listening to their finished performances.
February 23, at Sprague Hall, Grace Walker Nichols supplemented a lecture on Shakespeare by William Lyon Phelps, singing in a charming manner seventeen Elizabethan and Shakespearean songs without accompaniment.
February 21 a miscellaneous program was given at Plymouth Church by Marie Warrington, soprano; Gordon Stevens, tenor; Mrs. Hutchison, violinist, and Antoinette Brett Farnham, pianist.
February 23 the Calvary Baptist Church Choir gave Liza Lehmann’s “In a Persian Garden.” The personnel of the choir is as follows:	Soprano, Minnie Mills Cooper; alto,
Grace Walker Nichols; tenor, Victor Valenti; bass, Ersell Peeson, and organist, Lyman Bunnell.	G. S. B.
Newport News, Va., March 6,	1922.—Elizabeth
Lennox, contralto, and Fred Patton, baritone, appeared in joint recital in this city on March 2, under the auspices
Cecile de Horvath
PIANIST
Scores in Chicago, Feb. 19, 1922
“An Interesting Personality at the Piano/ Hackett
“A pianist, slight of figure, with FLAMING INTERPRETATIONS which would seem almost to transcend her physical strength but do not. Played in BIG RESONANT STYLE and a DECISIVE INDIVIDUALITY. MUCH WORTH WHILE.” —Edward Moore, Chicago Tribune, Feb. 20, 1922.
“AN INTERESTING PERSONALITY AT THE PIANO. Played the Gluck-Brahms Gavotte CHARMINGLY. The tone was crisp and clean and there was the QUAINT FLAVOR OF OLD-WORLD STATELINESS. The Barcarolle by Zoltán de Horvath was pleasing and POETICALLY PLAYED. Closed her program with Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz. Gave it with excellent appreciation of its meaning. She knew what it meant and was determined that the audience should understand it also. It was INTERESTING PLAYING WITH A DISTINCTIVE QUALITY TO IT.”—Karleton Hackett, Chicago Evening Post, Feb. 20, 1922.
“The Gluck-Brahms Gavotte was given a clean and musical reading. In Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz she showed TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY, MUSICAL FEELING, INTERPRETATIVE TALENT, and PLENTY OF POWER AND ENDURANCE.”— Maurice Rosenfeld, Chicago Daily News, Feb. 20, 1922.
“In Franck’s Prelude, Aria and Finale shows qualities of intelligence and TECHNICAL ACCURACY. EMINENTLY SUCCESSFUL in her Chopin group for here she could exploit her GIFT FOR CANTABILE PLAYING in which the sympathetic and talented pianist seems to excel.”—Herman Devries, Chicago Evening American, Feb. 20, 1922.
“Carries out her scheme of interpretation steadily and well.”—Chicago Journal, Feb. 20, 1922.
Season 1922-23 Now Booking
Secretary Mary L. Kirkwood 420 Fine Arts Bldg. Chicago, 111.
Management Haensel & Jones Aeolian Hall New York City
Baldwin Piano Used