7
MUSICAL COURIER
April 13, 19 22
LENTEN SEASON FINDS LITTLE
LET-UP IN PARIS MUSICAL ACTIVITIES
“Boris,” at the Opera, Finally Produced, Under Koussewitzky—Impressive Franck Memorial Concert—Publishers Ask Tariff Protection—Various Concerts and Music News, oi Interest
program, but the largest part of it was always devoted to the best of music, and it did not take long before we had a very large clientele. We give performances every evening, with matinees on Sundays and holidays, and sell a subscription book containing fifteen tickets, good any time. Of course, during the years of the war, performances were not as frequent. Sometimes we had to abandon our concerts for weeks, but slowly normal conditions returned, and once more we could resume our daily concerts.
"The orchestra has twenty-five members. Some of them have been with me for over twenty years. They started with me in the Concerts Rouge days. They are all fine players. We gave the first performance of many French works which afterward were played the world over. Many artists who became world celebrities made their debut with us. I am proud to mention one you Americans know well —Jaques Thibaud.”
For the last two years Touchç has received a subsidy from the city of Paris and the French Government.
New Musical Publication.
To serve the interest of all artists, but especially that of the singers, the first issue of a new monthly magazine called Lyrica,” appeared on the kiosks of the boulevards in Paris. It is published and edited by E. Thomas Salignac, of the Opéra-Comique, one time member of the Metropolitan Opera Company. _ The best known names of the Paris musical world are listed as collaborators, among whom Emma Calvé, Lucien Muratore, Maurice Renaud, Jean De Reszke, Reynaldo Hahn, Andre-Caplet and Albert Wolff are those whose names are familiar to music lovers in America.
The initial number contains an article which will be of special interest to Americans. It is by Albert Wolff the genial chef d’orchestre of the Opéra-Comique, French’conductor of the. Metropolitan Opera Company. Wolff is a great admirer of American art and artists, and deplores the fact that they are ignored in France. He states that there are many fine composers and serious musicians in America, and many professional and amateur singers of natural talent and ability. He ascribes the vocal gifts of the Americans to a mixture of the races, climate and outdoor life. Mr. Wolff also says that there are some excellent teachers in America who give most careful training to their talented pupils. He urges France to send only the most consummate artists to America, as the standard of the Americans is very high.
Musicale at the Leschetizicy Institute.
Gabrielle Leschetizky and John Heath gave an entertaining musicale at the Leschetizky Institute of Piano Sunday evening, March 12. Marguerite Chaigneau and Ernest Levy played a Brahms sonata for cello and piano ; Suzanne Chaigneau and Mme. Panthes, a Mozart sonata for violin and piano; Enid Watkins, a young American soprano, sang anas and songs by Mozart, Massenet, Charpentier, Dwight Fiske and Blair Fairchild. Miss Watkins has a beautiful voice and sings with great facility and depth of feeling Many prominent members of the musical and social world of Paris were present.
Gotthelf Off to Join Farrar.
Claude Gotthelf, the American pianist, was heartily applauded at a brilliant reception given by the Countess Du Buat on Sunday evening, March 12. Mr. Gotthelf played
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and very effective. Miss Humphries played the Chopin nocturne and “Gypsy Dance” by Natchez.
$10,000 for Lamoureux’s Strad.
A Stradivarius dated 1735, which was the property of the late Charles Lamoureux, the celebrated chef d’orchestre, organizer of the famous Concerts Lamoureux, was sold at auction at the Hotel Drouot Wednesday afternoon, March 8. It brought 103,000 francs, almost $10,000 at the present rate of exchange. The name of the buyer was not given, but I understand that it was bought by a dealer.
A Young American Cellist.
Little Mildred Wellerson, the American cellist, gave a rectal at the Theater Albertier Friday afternoon, March 10. She achieved a success with the audience that bordered on a triumph. Her playing of Popper’s “Elfentanz,” Ga-briel Faure’s “Elegie,” and “Spinning Song” by Popper, which she played as an encore, was especially noteworthy.
Mme. Huber in Operetta.
Germaine Huber,the Belgian prima donna, who, under the name of Germaine Clerget (her husband is Paul Clerget, one of the world’s greatest mimes), appeared in concerts in the United States, is singing the role of Venus in the splendid revival of “Paris, ou le Bon Juge” (Paris, or the Good Judge), the two act operetta by Claude Terrasse, at the Theater Michel.
Concerts Touche Give Five Thousandth Concert.
The five thousandth public symphony concert of the Concerts Touche took place at the Salle Touche on Thursday evening, March 16. It was of course a gala performance with augmented prices. The little hall was packed, the audience crowding the aisles and doorways. I was thinking of the struggling symphony orchestras in America and wondered how a symphony orchestra could manage to live long enough to give five thousand concerts. To satisfy my curiosity I went to see Francis Touche, director of the concerts and conductor of the orchestra. I found him in a very small office at the entrance of the Salle Touche, located in the Boulevard de Strasbourg, which for location would correspond to our Third avenue in New York. To reach the hall one has to walk through the courtyard and up one flight.
Mr. Touche is a fine looking Frenchman in his early fifties. He spoke very modestly of his achievement. “I am a graduate of the Paris Conservatory,” said Mr. Touche. "I started on my public career as cellist of the Concerts Rouge, an organization of orchestral concerts on the left bank of the Seine in existence for thirty-four years. I soon became the leader of the orchestra. In 1906 I left the Concerts Rouge and organized my own orchestra and moved into my present quarters. . . . Struggle? . . . Oh, yes; it was not smooth running, but we managed it. The Paris papers were very encouraging, our prices were low, and at the beginning I put some popular numbers on the
Paris, March 18, 1922.—Lent does not seem to interfere with the musical activities of Paris. The Opera and Opera-Comique are filled for every performance, the big concerts are well attended and the popular recitalists are drawing large audiences.
The outstanding feature of the musical week was the first production of Moussorgsky’s “Boris Godounoff” at the Opera. The work was already heard in Paris in 1913, when Serge De Diaghileff gave a season of Russian Opera at the Theatre des Champs Elysées with Feodor Chaliapin in the title role. The Opera has promised its performance from year to year but it was always postponed for some unavoidable reason. It was finally produced Wednesday evening, March 8, and its success was instantaneous. No doubt this was greatly due to the eminent Russian conductor, Serge Koussewitzky, to whom Director Jacques Rouché entrusted the preparations and who succeeded in imparting his enthusiasm and sincere love for the work not only to the artists who sang the principal roles, but also to every member of the orchestra and chorus. Never before did I realize what excellent material the Opera possesses. I was struck by the beauty of the tone of the orchestra and the precision with which it followed the minutest sign of its leader. The remarkable performance of the chorus astonished even the oldest subscribers who proudly applauded every ensemble number.
Vanni-Marcoux was the Boris. His voice is uneven and not of sufficient power, but whatever he lacked in voice he made up by his fine and sincere acting. On the whole he gave a very satisfactory performance. John O’Sullivan, the Irish tenor of the Opera, sang Dimitri; Pimene was sung by Huberty, Marina by Germaine Lubin, and Xenia by Jane Laval. The opera was sung in French, the version having been made specially by Louis Laloy.
Impressive Franck Memorial Concert.
Paris paid a magnificent tribute to the memory of César Franck, the Belgian composer, at the “Gala” given at the Opera, Tuesday evening, March 7. A more brilliant affair has seldom been seen there. It was attended by Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic and Mme. Millerand, distinguished statesmen, members of the diplomatic corps, celebrities of the musical world, of art and literature, women of the social world of Paris gorgeously gowned and bedecked with jewels, and hundreds of military and naval men in uniforms. A program of Belgian and French music was given the orchestra, conducted alternately by seven of the most celebrated French orchestra leaders of today. The receipts will be used for a monument of César Franck to be presented by France to the City of Liege in Belgium, the birthplace of the Composer.
Busoni at the Colonne.
The Colonne concert Sunday afternoon, March 5, devoted the greatest part of its program to Ferruccio Busoni, the master Italian pianist, its soloist. Busoni played the Mozart concerto in C major and the second Liszt concerto. The orchestra performed Busoni’s “Berceuse Elegiaque,” dedicated to the memory of his mother, and his “Rondo Arlecchinesco,” from his opera “Arlecchino,” written in 1913. Mr. Sebatier sang the tenor solo part. Gabriel Pierné conducted.
Publishers Ask Tariff Protection.
PIANISTS FLOOD AMSTERDAM
Dr. Muck, in Mengelberg’s Place, Plays No Novelties—One of Holland’s Lesser Orchestras Heard—The Capet Quartet
Returns
tries to get every nuance and shade out of each measure, as Mengelberg does.
Nico Gerharz’s Example.
An example which should be followed by American orchestras, was given us by Nico Gerharz of the small town of Haarlem, who, though his orchestra is in financial difficulties itself, gave a performance for the benefit of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, which is menaced with total extinction. Holland is a small country of scarcely seven or eight million inhabitants, but notwithstanding this, there are about ten towns having orchestras. One of these is the orchestra of Haarlem, whose conductor is‘ an excellent artist.
Dutch Artists in Concert.
The much beloved singer, Bertha Seroeh, and the equally honored pianist, Evert Cornelis, gave again one of their locally famous joint recitals. They did in their own characteristic way, arias by Gluck, Buononcimi, Rosa, and Campia, also modern songs by the Belgians Jongen and Gilson. The memory of Saint-Saëns was honored by the singing of some of his songs. On the same evening we were introduced to a novelty, “Beatrys,” a poem by Bou-tens, set to music by Alexander Voormolen. It did not make a good impression, though the celebrated actor Jan Musch, was the reader. The Dutch String Quartet (Sey-densdorff-Mendes-Kmt-Canivez) presented itself to the public with two novelties, a composition by Franco Alfano and a sonatina by Pierre Menu. I was not able to form a clear judgment, as the performance was somewhat obscure. In every case the composition by Alfano seemed unbalanced in its qualities. Inspired passages were followed by empty ones. The performance was far from perfect.
The Reorganized Capet Quartet.
Quite another impression was made by the Quatuor Capet, of Paris, which had not been here for a long time. The former cellist, Casadesus, fell in the war and his brother, the viola player, could not bring himself to play without his brother. So Capet had to reorganize his quartet. We were astonished at finding such a perfect ensemble in such a short time, though we could not have expected anything less from so fine an artist as Capet.
Capet, Hewitt, Benoit and Delobelle now play together, and their appearance here was one of great and remarkable interest. The audience greeted these artists with sympathy, and after the performance, which was a great success, applauded frantically. Here was beauty, a revelation of deep artistic feeling, with every detail technically perfect.	S K
Amsterdam, March 6, 1922.—The month of February brought to Amsterdam a veritable flood of superior pianists, Among these we specially want to mention the Dutchman, Dirk Schäfer, who is now becoming famous in Europe. Dirk Schäfer has a strong personality, and such a powerful talent that it will not be long before the world knows him, especially now that he has decided to give concerts abroad.
For the moment he is repeating in London the tremendous success he has recently won in Vienna and Berlin. In a recital given a few weeks ago in Amsterdam we had the occasion to judge him also as a composer. The “Sonata Inaugurate,” op. 9, and “Veränderungen über ein eignes Tanzthema,” op. 10, showed that the special characteristics of Schäfer are: nobility and breadth, sincerity, intensity and ardour. His command of musical architectonics is complete. We know his four violin sonatas, some string quartets, and other pieces, and in all these works the honest all round musician is proclaimed. His piano compositions were received with special enthusiasm by the public, of_ course. Moreover, he played them with an intense spirituality, which greatly impressed his hearers. In his Chopin and Liszt he once more gave proof of his impressive gifts.
Other Pianists.
Another famous pianist, Frederic Lamond, favored us and his Dutch friends with an interesting evening. We especially enjoyed his playing of Beethoven, Reger, Schubert and Liszt.
Ilona Kabos, who came all the way from Hungary to visit us, is a pianist of extraordinary talent, endowed with a powerful temperament. This young artist has all that a pianist should have, technic, sensibility and innate mu-sicality. An'other fine artist, a countryman of Ilona Kabos, is Gabriel Fenyves, with musicality, fine musical taste, highly cultivated technic and a superior touch. Paul Schramm used to be prodigy. At a recent recital here he gave a varied but too hackneyed program. I must, however ,mention Novak’s tone poem, “Pan,” new to me and interesting. The public seemed more pleased with Max von Pauer, who first played in recital, but afterward was engaged to appear with the symphony orchestra under the direction of Dr. Muck.
Muck Replacing Mengelberg.
Dr. Carl Muck, who takes Mengelberg’s place during his absence had a hearty welcome from the public at his first concert. He introduced himself with a Beethoven program, and gave a superior performance of the seventh and eighth symphonies. Muck is not the virtuoso conductor, who extracts the most subtle details of a work and
The directors of the Syndicate of Music Publishers of France have addressed a memorandum to the Government asking for a protection against the importation of German and Austrian editions of the classics into France. The memorandum sets forth that, with the extremely low exchange rate of the Mark and the Kronen, Austrian and German publishers are flooding France with their editions. The expense of the French edition is so high that the French publishers cannot meet the low prices quoted by their German and Austrian competitors. Without an adequate protection by high tariff their business might be ruined, they claim.
About Paris.
A splendid concert of Russian music was given at the Trocadero last Saturday evening, March 4, for the benefit of the sufferers of the Russian famine. Koussewitzky conducted. Works of Rimsky-Korsakoff, Moussorgsky and Stravinsky made up the program.
Louis Casette, one of the best French tenors before the Parisian public, today appeared for the first time as Des Grieux in Massenet’s “Manon” at the Opera Comique, Thursday matinee. March 9.
Ethel Hugli-Camp, who recently returned from the United States, was heard at the concert given by the American Women’s Club on Sunday afternoon, March 5. She sang a group of songs in French and Italian and a number of Swiss folk songs in the Swiss dialect.
“Celtic Rhapsody,” the work of Swan Hennessy, an American composer, was given for the first time Sunday, March 5, at the Concert Touche, the famous popular concert hall on the Boulevard de Strasbourg. Mr. Hennessy himself played the piano part and Mme. Adam-Pineau, the violin part. The theme of the first movement of the composition is Irish; that of the second is Scotch.
I had the pleasure of shaking hands with that brilliant violinist, Toscha Seidel, at the Gare de Lyon in Paris on Thursday night. He came through Paris on the London-Bombay Express on his way to Australia where he is to play thirty concerts. Toscha is accompanied by his mother and young brother.
A Costume Recital.
Yvonne Humphries, a young violinist, and Valerie Deucher, soprano, appeared at the American Women’s Club concert on Tuesday evening, March 7. Miss Deucher sang a number of eighteenth century melodies in costume of the period, Breton folk songs dressed as a Breton peasant girl and two English songs in the costume of about 1830. Miss Deucher has a delightful personality, is very attractive and has real interpretative ability. Her costumes were correct