30
April 20, 1922
MUSICAL COURIER
PARIS TO REVIVE INTEREST IN CHORAL MUSIC
Municipal Council to Arrange Annual Competition and Offer a Number of Important Prizes for Winning Organizations— A Sensational Novelty in Scenic Effects—Jean Cras’ “Ames d'Enfants” Given First Performance—A Second “Jewels of the Madonna”—Brailowsky a Remarkable Pianist—American Artists Give Programs
tractive musical program was given by Mrs. Harold Sheets, American violinist. She played a suite by Edward Schutte and “Canzonette,” by d’Ambrosio.
Valerie Deucher, American soprano, appeared at the Salle Malakoff March 18, in joint recital with Henrietta Renie, harpist.
The French-American Welfare Center gave a musicale March 18, which marked the first appearance in Paris of Enrica del Grande, a young Italian contralto. She has a rich, well trained voice and sings in the true Italian style. Her singing of “Belli Occhi Lucent¡,” by Falconieri, and Pergolesi’s “Se Tu m’ Am¡” were especially praiseworthy.
Following the big success of her first recital in Paris, little Mildred Wellerson, the child cellist, will give another on April 7.	Theodore Bauer.
Free Tickets for Columbia Concerts Ready
Tickets for the fifth season of concerts by the Goldman Band, under the direction of Edwin Franko Goldman, to be given on the green at Columbia University, are now ready and may be had free, upon written request to “Summer Concerts,” Columbia University, New York City. The only requirement is that a self-addressed stamped envelope be enclosed with the request.
The season will last twelve weeks, beginning June 12 and ending September 8, and tickets for the entire season will be provided for those who write for them in time.
These concerts are supported through subscriptions ranging from five and ten dollars up. Subscribers have the benefit of special reserved seats for the season. Unusual preparations have been made for the coming summer, and besides the Goldman Band, which has achieved such phenomenal success, a noted soloist will appear at each concert.
Roxas Associated with Gigli
Emilio A. Roxas, Italian vocal teacher, coach, accompanist and composer, who for six years has been coach and accompanist to Giovanni Martinelli, has been selected by Beniamino Gigli to be associate teacher at the Rosati Studio, which will open October 1, 1922.
Mr. Roxas enjoys the distinction of numbering among his pupils many prominent singers now before the public. Last summer, while in Buenos Aires, he coached several leading singers who appeared at the opera in the South American metropolis.
Pupil of Mme. Sherwood-Newkirk Wins Success
Ruth Bowman, a seventeen-year-old pupil of Lillian Sherwood-Newkirk, sang on Tuesday afternoon, March 28, at the meeting of the Theater Club at the Hotel Astor. The young singer had a fine success, which amounted almost to an ovation. Miss Bowman has studied for several years with Mme. Sherwood Newkirk.
Curt Peterson Gives Program
Another “rehearsal” program of songs was given Monday evening, March 27, at the studio of Percy Rector Stephens, when Curt Peterson sang with exceptional interest. His songs consisted of old Italian, German, French and English, many of which were repeated as encores. Lee Cronican was the accompanist.
=» DWAYNE
= W II M I» M AlJhi Appearances
33 Avenoe Montaigne, -	- Paris, France
Jean de Reszke 53 Rue de la Faisanderie Paris
I V C rUrTI 1Y V Institute
LLoLiiL 1 !¿״JV I [ofPiano
47 Boulevard Berthier, Paris, France
Under the personal direction of MME. THEODORE LESCHETIZKY
(Marie Gabrielle Leschetizky)
־”John Heath, Associate Director. Artists’ Class and Private Lessons.
Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Theatre des Chaps_ Elysees. George Enesco, the Roumanian composer and violinist, played the Lalo concerto and Mme. Julia Nessy sang the solo part of Revel’s “Scheherazade.” The novelty of the program was the first performance anywhere of Jean Cras’ “Ames d’Enfants. The work is dedicated to the three children of the composer. It is in the three parts: “Purity,” “Naivete” and “Mystery,” and depicts the sentiments of tlm child’s soul. It is charming in its simplicity which is self-imposed by the very nature of the subject. The audience received the work very enthusiastically.
A Second “Jewels or the Madonna.”
The novelty of the Lamoureux concert on March 19 was the first performance of the symphonic prelude to “Sangre y Sol,” a lyrique drama by Alexandre Georges. The plot of the “Sangre y Sol” in its main issue is similar to that of the “Jewels of the Madonna.” The action takes place in Seville during Holy Week. Paco, a guitar player, is in love with Luz, a dancer. When he declares his love for her she rejects him, saying: “You have nothing but your guitar and . . . your youth.” Paco enters the church and robs the altar of its jewels. The prelude expresses the anguish and torture of Paco’s soul and is full of fierce love, violence and ecstasy of passion. Another interesting number on the program was the second symphony of Borodine. Paul Paray conducted the orchestra.
Brailowsky a Remarkable Pianist.
Of all the artists whom I have heard in Paris during the season and who are as yet unknown in America there is none who made as deep an impression on me as the pianist Brailowsky. I first heard him at the opera early in November with Koussewitzky’s orchestra. He impressed me with his perfect musicianship, remarkable technic and_ thorough understanding of the composer. In his Liszt recital a few weeks ago he displayed unsurpassed force and a dazzling technic that made his audience break forth several times during the recital in frantic demonstration of approval. March 24, at the Salle des Agriculteurs, this young Polish pianist gave a Chopin recital. The hall was packed and the stage filled with people, leaving only about three feet of space around the artists and the piano. To allow the artist to make his entrance and exit people had to get up and move their chairs. Hundreds were turned away unable to secure seats.
More glorious Chopin playing I have never heard. He reminded me of a combination of Paderewski and de Pach-mann. His program was arranged in three groups: the first one included the fantaisie, op. 49, impromptu, two nocturnes and four etudes; the second one the sonata, op. 35, and the third one ballade mazurka, valse and polonaise. Brailowsky appears to be a man about twenty-six years of age, tall, slender, with long hair. He speaks French and seemed to be most embarrassed when I complimented him on his remarkable playing.
Parisian Notes.
Mme. Blanche Marches¡ gave a recital at the Salle des Agriculteurs on March 22.
Arthur Shattuck, American pianist, after a sojourn in Germany, where he gave several concerts, has returned to his home in Paris.
Harold Henry, American pianist, has moved his studio from Le Vesinet to 4 Square Desnouettes, Paris.
Enid Watkins, a young American soprano who won first prize of the vocal department of the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, was soloist at one of the finest concerts given this season by the American Women’s Club, on Sunday afternoon, March 19. Her selections included an aria from “Les Noces de Figaro,” by Mozart; Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” and Wachtmeister’s “Pauvre Jaques.” She sang in English with remarkably clear diction Fiske’s “The Bird,” Haydn’s “My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair,” and two songs by Carpenter. Genevieve_ Pitot, an American pianist from New Orleans, was the assisting artist.
Ralph Lawton, American pianist, is giving a series of six lectures before the American Womens Club on musical appreciation. The lectures are very interesting and are well attended.
Clara Rabinovitch, young American pianist, after several very successful concerts in Paris, left for a concert tour which takes her to the south of France.
At the meeting of the Benevolent Society of the American Church in Paris, held Monday evening, March 20, an at-
Paris, March 26.—The Municipal Council of Paris has announced that it will arrange an annual choral competition and offer a number of important prizes for the winning organizations, thus hoping to revive the interest for choral music in France. The plan seems to have its desired effect as it brought into being “La Chorale Française.” It has been organized by Mme. Charles Danner and it is under the patronage of Paul Leon (director of Fine Arts), Theodore Dubois, C. M. Widor, Gabriel Faure, G. Charpentier, Henri Rabaud, all eminent in the Paris musical world, and His Eminence Cardinal Dubois, archbishop of Paris. The aim of the “La Chorale Française” is to rehearse ancient and modern choral works, give a number of public performances annually, and participate as a body at performances of the existing orchestras when their repertory necessitates the co-operation of an efficient chorus.
Sensational Novelty in Scenic Effects.
I had the opportunity of witnessing a ballet rehearsal in the studio of Mme. Boutkowsky-Kibaltchitch that, from the point of view of scenic effects, was a revelation. The opening scene showed the desert in a sandstorm with Mme. Nadine Oblonsky, the Russian dancer, struggling desperately against the all engulfing sand, the form of a man lying close to her feet. As she sinks to the ground—in an instant —an oasis appears only a few ;yards away. She exerts superhuman efforts to reach the oasis dragging along her half dead lover. Suddenly the scene changes again, the sand of the desert disappears and it becomes the oasis with its luxuriant palms and life, the costumes of the girl and her lover change all the splendor of the Orient and they dance in an ecstasy of joy. The hallucination of the girl is over, the scene changes back to the desert, the lover is lying half buried in the sand and the girl sinks down to her death. The whole performance with its four distinct changes only takes eight minutes. The changes occur instantaneously without lowering the curtain or darkening the stage. They are made by switching on different colored lights.
The most prominent members of the theatrical world in France declared this invention of Mme. Boutkowsky-Kibaltchitch to be the greatest progress in modern stagecraft. The principle is not new, as it is well known that certain colors disappear in certain lights, but its application in this practical manner is of extraordinary value in the theater. The artist is able to paint on the same canvass three entirely different pictures, only one of which is visible. By switching on certain lights one disappears and another one appears in its stead. One of the models I have seen in her studio showed the scene in front of the Pantheon that changed into the interior of the same. (Similar^ scenery, designed and painted by Nicholas de Lipsky, is familiar to New York. Pavlowa used a set of it; so did the Greenwich Village Follies. The question as to who originated it may be left to the artists to settle.—Editor’s Note.)
Jean Cras’ “Ames D’Enfants.”
Andre Caplet took the baton from Rhene-Baton, the regular conductor, at the Saturday and Sunday concerts of the
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Arrangements for Tours Throughout Europe
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Cable Address: Koos-Kurhaus-Scheveningen
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