May 18, 1922
14
MUNICH
(Continued from page 7)
his sister Agalise. Arambel loves his sister dearly and means never to be parted from her; she, however, is wooed and won by the king (what would the pantomime makers do if there had been no kings!) and carried off to the castle. Arambel, in hateful revenge, aims his arrow at the king and is blinded for this outrage (happily behind the scenes). Theieupon Agalise leaves throne and scepter to her irate spouse, frees her unhappy brother, and flees with him back to nature, where the youth dies. (The reader must not blame me for this striking sample of illogical happenings, for I am only the narrator).
—With Short Winded Music.
To tell, or rather to dance, this little story takes one hour and a quarter. The music does but little to relieve the tedious monotony of the play; it is, in its lyric parts, well orchestrated and sounds well, but thematically it is’ rather primitive and short winded and shows, above all, no signs of personal character. The ballet in the second picture was, musically speaking, a complete failure. The novelty, which had a most beautiful stage setting, was nevertheless excellently given. The authoress, Ingeborg Ruvina, danced the part of Arambel with infinite grace and almost ethereal agility; Elisabeth Boshardt as Agalise presented a figure of fairylike charm. Hans Bertram gave the king with noble and dignified bearing. To this trio and the excellent work of the conductor, Hugo Rohr, the final success was due.
Opera Versus Concert Platform.
One of the most striking features of present day concert life is the fact that concert singers of the real type, such as Julia Culp, Tilly Koenen, Elena Gerhardt and a few others of that select circle, are slowly but surely being crowded off the concert stage by opera singers, who are visibly gaining ground as song recitalists. Coming from the stage, they have the nimbus of the romantic, mysterious or tragic about them and consequently claim, a priori, the affection of a large majority of music lovers. Paul Bender, Karl Aagaard Oestwig, Emil Schipper, Friedrich Broder-son, Alfred Piccaver, Sigrid Onegin, Maria Ivogun—to name only a few—all of them coming from the stage, are always sure to find a crowded audience. There is, of course, nothing to say against such preference, and yet a great danger lurks behind it—the danger of gradual elimination of the real type of song recitalists. The Lieder singer as a specialist is a type for himself and for art’s sake it is sincerely to be hoped that he may not entirely lose his footing in musical life, for his elimination would mean nothing less than the neglect of the Lied in favor of arias and other opera fragments.
A New Lieder Singer of Rank.
Fortunately in the recent past one or two vocal stars who devote themselves entirely to the interpretation of the Lied have appeared. Foremost among them is Gretel Stiickgold, a high soprano of fascinating outward appearance and eminent vocal charm. She is a native of Bremen, spent her early girlhood in England, became on her return the pupil of her husband, Jacques Stiickgold, and is at present one of our most prominent singers. For a short time she, too, sang in opera, but a few years ago left the stage and devotes herself entirely to concert work, in which she has reached the highest artistic perfection. Gretel Stiickgold’s voice is one of the most beautiful and most perfectly trained to be heard now, her technique and phrasing are as astonishing as her interpretation is spirited and emotional. Her success as a vocal star has already found its echo in an engagement for a lengthy concert tour in America, where she may appear as early as the coming season.
Piccaver Wins With Arias.
Alfred Piccaver, the celebrated tenor of the Vienna Opera, has just made his first appearance here and created some sensation as an interpreter of Italian arias. The rendition of the rest of the program (songs and fragments from German operas), however, was a keen disappointment and proved once again that a magnificent voice is not a sufficient indemnity for the lack of poetic feeling and real emotion. This was the unanimous opinion. Piccaver took the cue and on his second evening he confined himself to Italian masters, which he. interpreted with masterful style and a startling abundance of voice and temperament. Again the opinion was unanimous and this time highly flattering to the singer.
Elman and Szigeti Play.
Among the noticeable instrumental concerts was a recital by Mischa Elman, whose reappearance after about ten years of absence was greeted with enthusiastic applause. He is still the old charmer, with the only difference that the capriciousness of style which was formerly accredited to his youth has now taken the form of mannerisms which occasionally mar the purity of his otherwise perfect playing. A triumphant success was also accorded to Josef Szigeti the Hungarian violinist Szigeti’s tone is of wonderful roundness and beauty, his technic perfect and his style of espressivo marks him as an artist and musician of the highest grade. Today he figures among Europe’s foremost vio-“msts•	Albert Noelte.
Danise to Make Chicago Debut
Giuseppe Danise, baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Company, apparently does not feel the need of an immediate vacation, despite his frequent appearances at the opera house m the past season. He sang in Atlanta with the Metropolitan company and then continued his concert work He will sing at the Evanston, (111.) Festival on May 26. inis summer lie will make his Chicago operatic debut, singing leading baritone roles at Ravinia Park.
Minnette Hirst Entertains Lady McKenzie
Minnette Hiists beautiful home at 375 Park avenue was the scene of an unusually interesting affair recently, when Lady Muir McKenzie delivered a lecture there. The subject chosen by Lady McKenzie was “Ladies Grave and Gay.” f he audience, consisting of about one hundred ladies, showed such interest and enthusiasm in her work that a request was made for the repetition of the lecture in the near future.
MUSICAL COURIER
proven by the concerts of the last few weeks. Concerts like those of Borowski and Medtner are, moreover, largelv patronized by the Russian colony, which according to the latest official estimates comprises 280,000 souls. A new Russian variety theater has recently been opened, the Rus-sian “Blue Bird” cabaret (first cousin to the “Chauve Souris ), has become a permanent institution, and a Russian dramatic festival by artists of the late Imperial Theater is announced. The presence of Alexander Glazounoff has thrown the musical side of Russian culture still more into the foreground, and at a musical and social evening for the benefit of the faculty of the Petrograd Conservatory a whole galaxy of Russian artists of every calibre took part.
Indeed, if you don’t look out you are apt to stumble into something Russian almost any evening—even if you don’t intend to. That’s what happened to your correspondent the other evening, bent on the .serious errand of hearing the Philharmonic Orchestra play a new.work. But lo! the orchestra, dispossessed from its own hall for the evening, was playing in smaller quarters elsewhere, while the great Philharmonie was occupied to the last seat by a brilliant and fashionable audience of distinctly Eastern cachet. They were held spellbound by a racy-looking little dark lady who sang—and acted—a polyglot collection of chansons. It was Isa Kremer, a sort of Russian diseuse or chansonnière who has found her way westward via the Caucasus, Constantinople and the Balkan lands.
She began by being a bric-à-brac doll—the result of a “mésalliance” between a porcelain father and a mother of faience (in Russian) ; she rocked a baby to sleep in a French berceuse; she blurted a “ghitarra napolitana” with the characteristic raucous voice of a southern lass; and she drew tears with à Yiddish “Lied fon a Feigele.” Her Russian audience was delighted. But she is more than just Russian, she is European, and in all she does she has “a way with her” that will make her popular anywhere, even across the Atlantic. Isa Kremer was among those who gave their services for the concert in aid of Glazounoff’s conservatory, and we have a hunch that she drew the biggest part of the crowd.
Why not, indeed ? _ It is the end of a season and a long, long winter, and spring is here once more. People want to feel gay ; they want to be amused—even the Russian refugees of Berlin.	César Saerchinger.
Myra Hess’s Festival Dates in England
Myra Hess, the English pianist who was most successful on her first American concert tour, will return about Christmas to remain until next summer. Called back to England for some important Festival concerts, she was prevented from accepting a number of important spring dates in March. Miss Hess has made arrangements to stay in America next year until Spring.
Among her numerous engagements already booked by her manager, Annie Friedberg, are, a tour through California and the West, seven concerts in Canada, a tour through the South and the middle West, including bookings in New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Utica, Toronto, Ithaca, Cumberland, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Winnipeg.
Maier and Pattison Leave for Australian Tour
Guy Maier and Lee Pattison, following their appearance at Leopold Godowsky’s farewell concert on May 3, left the following day for San Francisco, from where they sailed on May 10 on the S. S. Wilhelmina for Honolulu. On May 22 they give a recital in the Hawaiian city and on May 27 continue their trip to Australia on the Niagara. They will open their season in Sydney on June 21 under the local direction of the International Tours, Limited. Mrs. Maier and Mrs. Pattison are accompanying their husbands and the party will be absent until October, when-the two pianists will make their first appearance in the principal cities of the Pacific Coast States.
BERLIN
(Continued from page 7)
that only a definitely creative faculty can give. It is not “modern” music; it adheres to the classic-romantic ideals of melodic beauty and poetic content, and uses dissonance only as contrast in a colorful harmonic web. It is, perhaps, what Scriabin might have done if, after his Chopinesque beginnings, he had developed his own individuality along less erratic lines. It is music that will not appeal superficially either through obvious popular charms or through any _ form of eccentricity (which is often mistaken for originality). Its originality, indeed, is not at once apparent, being inherent in the matter rather than demonstrated in the manner.
An Astonishing Pianist.
Medtner’s program consisted entirely of his own works— a sonata and some eighteen pieces—a severe test for any composer. It is not to be wondered at, perhaps, that even the sagacious Berlin critics did not quite realize the significance of what was happening. Especially interesting were the whimsical and often dramatic “Fairy Talcs” and some of the numbers of the manuscript cycle, “Forgotten Tunes,” in which the acrid accents of a “Danza rustica” and the pearly cascades of the “Danza silvestra” impressed us as especially effective. There is no doubt that pianists, once they discover these grateful works, will seize upon them much as they have seized upon those of Rachmaninoff, whose popularity in Russia is said not to exceed that of Medtner by much. Like Rachmaninoff, Medtner is an astonishing pianist, and it is to be hoped that he will some day introduce himself as such to America.
Medtner is now in his forty-third year. He has since 1908 been professor of piano at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was a pupil from his twelfth year under Pabst, Sapell-nikoff and Safonoff, and graduated with the gold medal for piano in 1908. His teacher in composition, outside of the conservatory, was Taneieff. As a pianist he is regarded especially highly as an interpreter of Beethoven. Besides some eighty compositions for the piano (including nine sonatas) he has written a similar number of songs, chiefly to poems of Poushkin and Goethe. There is also a violin sonata and three “Songs of Night” for violin and piano, and a piano concerto.
Russian Invasion Continues.
That the Russian invasion in German music, of which we had occasion to speak in an earlier letter, is unabated, was
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