26	MUSICAL COURIER
AMERICANS AGAIN IN THE LIMELIGHT
IN THE MIDST OF LONDON RECITALS
Rosalie Miller, Albert Spalding, Merwin Howe, Hans Kindl er, Harold Bauer, Alfred O’Shea, Carmen Hill, Una Bates and Myra Hess Give Programs—“Die Walküre” Presented in English
June 2 2, 1922
matic Wagner and Verdi, quaint old English ditties, sentimental banalities, musical comedy, in English, Italian, French, German, negro dialect, and then complaining that the heartless music critics are prejudiced.
Bauer’s First Recital in Nine Years.
From Una Bates and the Queen’s Hall I hurried to Wigmore Hall and heard the second half of Harold Bauer’s first recital in London in nine years. Harold Bauer is so well known in America that I need say nothing about him or his program. A great many of his old friends were on hand to greet him. The artists’ room was as crowded as a society reception. Myra Hess, fresh from her American experiences, and Irene Schaarar, of whom it is said that she cannot play better than she looks or look better than she plays, were making Harold Bauer happy when I pushed into the throng. I found Katharine Goodson there with her arm in a sling on account of a sprain she had at the end of her long and triumphal tour of Great Britain. She reminded me of King Richard III when he said:
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments.
When the welcoming reception was over Mischa Elman took me in his taxi to the Piccadilly Hotel, and there, with Benno Moiseiwitsch, round the supper table, we made merry over Pachmann’s incessant chatter of explanatory polyglot with which he accompanied his piano recital in
Albert Hall last Sunday week. Finally, Tuesday, May 30, came to an end and was numbered “with yesterday’s seveii thousand years.”
Clarence Lucas.
Cyrena Van Gordon in “Joan of Arc”
The People’s Chorus of Norwalk, Conn., under the direction of Mrs. F. J. Morrison, will sing Gaul’s historical cantata, “Joan of Arc,” on June 28, in the State Armory.
The chorus represents the varied musical and civic interests of the city and is the result of fine co-operation and community spirit. Through careful training the singers have developed a beautiful ensemble.
By great good fortune the assistance of Cyrena Van Gordon, of the Chicago Opera, has been secured for the title role, her noble voice and rare personality being especially adapted to the dramatic quality of the part. '
John Finnegan, the well known tenor soloist of St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Paulist Choristers, will sing the part of Philip, and Theodore Junger, baritone, will sing the double role of Robert and Jean. Mr. Junger possesses a rich baritone voice which won him unqualified success in South America, where he sang with Mme. Galli-Curci, and in the United States and Canada, where he toured ’with Gwilym Miles, Mme. D’Albey and Mme. Adaber. With the co-operation of the Kiwanis Club, the civic interest of Norwalk, and the splendid effort of the chorus, this first community concert promises to be a complete success.
London Audiences Acclaim Cecil Fanning
Daniel Mayer has just received the following cablegram from London, referring to Cecil Fanning:
Fourth recital triumphant success. Packed house. Twenty-one recalls. Six extra songs.
Mr. Fanning sang twice at Wigmore Hall in May, and he has just followed these appearances with two more concerts on June 13 and 15. In spite of the terrific heat wave which struck London at the time scheduled for the first recitals, this American baritone attracted large audiences, including many of the best known musicians in London. His audiences have been most demonstrative in their applause and scenes of wild enthusiasm have become almost a matter of course at Fanning’s recitals. At his second concert, on May 25, Fanning was made to repeat four of the songs on his program, and at the end was obliged to add four additional songs, the enthusiasm still continuing.
Following the London concerts, Mr. Fanning will spend the summer traveling through Europe, and will return to America in January, 1923, to begin the concert tour arranged for him here.
carefully or as thoroughly trained as his splendid natural gifts might warrant. In several old Irish folk songs he was particularly pleasing to his very enthusiastic audience. In fact the greater part of his performance was wholly satisfactory.
An Aristocrat of the Violin.
Albert Spalding has added to his laurels, so to speak, for he^ was already held in high esteem here before he gave his two recitals in Wigmore Hall a few days ago. The beauty of his tone, his perfect intonation, his reliable technical skill which makes the hearer feel that nothing can go wrong, all combine to place Albert Spalding on an elevated pedestal. He has a certain aloofness of manner, and a kind of aristocratic restraint in expression, which distinguish him from the plebeian violinist who keeps one eye on the gallery. There was no restraint on the applause the audiences gave him at both recitals, however, not only for his playing but also for several effective compositions as well.
American Pianist in Debut.
Merwin Howe, an American pianist, was highly spoken of by all the Solons of the press. No doubt I would have added my little sparrow tweet of commendation to the full chorus of the auks and ptarmigans, storks and vultures of the London dailies if two other concerts on the selfsame evening had not kept me from reaching Wigmore Hall. In this present plane of existence I can only be in one place at a time.
Rosalie Miller Sings Again.
That is why I could hear very little of Rosalie Miller’s second recital this season in Wigmore Hall. The music critic must be like the fashionable host in “Troilus and Cressida,” who “with his arms outstretched, as he would fly, grasps in the comer.” I had to hear Hans Kindler’s first recital in London which was given in Aeolian Hall while Rosalie Miller was singing in Wigmore Hall. If she sang the rest of her program as well as she sang the Gluck number at the beginning she thoroughly deserves the reputation she has so quickly established in London.
A Master Cellist.
After the exquisite finish and smooth tone of Maurice Dambois, who gave a cello recital in Aeolian Hall three days before Hans Kindler’s first concert, I was prepared to hear a rougher and less artistic performance. But I was happily disappointed. Hans Kindler surpassed all my expectations. He did not put Maurice Dambois in the shade. He was simply different. Great artists do not eclipse each other. They each add something new to the musical world’s delight. Kindler’s management of the bow in some light, rapid passages was enough to make many a good violinist turn green with envy. And of course in broad, full tones the cello in Hans Kindler’s hands makes the violin sing small. His success was instantaneous, as his remarkable London press notices will show, when they are reprinted for the benefit of our • readers.
“Die Walküre” in English.
A little later in the same day I went to Covent Garden Opera House and heard an act of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” sung in English by the National British Opera Company. The performance was commendably good in every way, and no doubt infinitely better than many a performance Wagner had to hear in the early days of music drama before the style of the thing was known to the singers and the orchestral players. During the performance it occurred to me that Wagner had made the orchestration of “Die Walküre” in London while he was conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1855, and that in 1895 I had rented the house in which Wagner lived ■while he scored “Die Walküre.” All the old terrace was pulled down some twenty years ago to make room for the great apartment houses at the north-western corner of Regent’s Park. I photographed the old house before it was demolished, and the print I send herewith has never before been published.
“’E’s ONE OF OURSELVES, ’E IS.”
As the performance a׳t Covent Garden began at seven o’clock I was able to get away in good time after the first act to hear parts of two concerts in Queen’s and Wigmore Halls. Wotan does not appear in Act I, as all profound students of Wagner know, and I was consequently unable to hear Clarence Whitehill wote. I need hardly say, however, that this eminent American artist has endeared himself to the British operatic public in a way few outsiders ever do. As a man from the gallery remarked: “He’s one of ourselves, he is.”
Making my way easily to Queen’s Hall, I recalled that the last time I had heard “Die Walküre” was in the Bowl of Yale University and I had a 73-mile ride back to New York when the curtain fell, and then a report to write for the Musical Courier’s active printers in the morning.
_ Versatility.
Una Bates, a pleasing young soprano with a good natural voice, was singing to the accompaniment of Sir Henry Wood’s orchestra when I reached Queen’s Hall. Her concert, in fact, was on a much larger scale than her youthful voice and moderate vocal skill warranted. She was best when she sang light works with piano accompaniments, for her lyrical voice has much charm. That old saying about “Doing in Rome what the Romans do,” might appropriately be changed to “Doing as a singer what all singers do.” Ernest Newman has just published an article on the necessity for singers to learn to specialize. In London, at any rate, it is not unusual to find a certain vocalist in opera one week, in oratorio another week, in a serious art song recital today, a ballad concert tomorrow, singing old Bach and Handel, romantic Schubert and Schumann, broad Beethoven and Brahms, dra-
London, June 3.—Serge Kussevitzki, the Russian musician who first made a London reputation as a solo performer on the double bass and then continued moving up the scale until he got to the conductor’s wand, directed three orchestral concerts in Queen’s Hall during the past few days. There can be no question about this magnetic man’s ability to inspire an orchestra and make the players give the best that is in them. He also draws immense audiences and rouses them to demonstrations of the greatest enthusiasm. His programs range from Bach to everybody who is not Bach, and he apparently accommodates himself to the idiosyncrasies of all composers of harmony, discord, experimental vacuity, bombastic nonsense, or straightforward melody.
Two Young Singers.
Carmen Hill, an English soprano, gave a recital in Aeolian Hall last week, and was certainly at her best in dainty songs with French words. The singer’s personal charm was a very great asset, but could not make up for
WAGNER IN LONDON
The middle house, just visible behind the tree, was occupied by Wagner in 1855, while scoring “Die Walküre” in London. It was pulled doivn in 1895. (Photograph by Clarence Lucas.)
the defects of production which made her higher tones a little veiled and strained whenever she tried to be loud. Many vocalists injure the natural beauty of their voices by straining for power, but I think Carmen Hill has more natural voice than her vocal method permits her to use.
I am also of the opinion that the Australian tenor, Alfred O’Shea, who gave a recital in Queen’s Hall last week, is unable to do full justice to his unusually fine voice on account of a faulty method in ■the upper registers—or shall I say that the faulty method brought him to grief when he went up where the art of voice production is most needed? Every time he rose to F I could hear a change of tone and every note above the F was still more marked in uncertain quality. As these same little blemishes were heard by my ear all through the recital I came to the conclusion that Alfred O’Shea had not been as
IRMA
Composer- Violinist
In America Season 1922-23
Address: 15 Warwick Road Brookline, Mass.