14
January 11, 1923
parts of the world, holds the distinction of receiving what is considered the highest salary ever paid an artist for a week’s engagement at the theater. His work was highly appreciated by the local press, and by the audiences which packed the auditorium at every performance.
Mr. Yon closed his master course in Philadelphia on December 23, and played at St. Francis Xavier’s Church, New York, on December 25 (Christmas Day). He will continue to teach at the Yon Studios, Carnegie Hall, New \ ork, alternating his many out-of-town public appearances with his teaching here. Never before has Mr. Yon had so many artist pupils enrolled (with an additional waiting list) as this season, which is another proof of his growing success as an instructor.
Recital at the Cornish School
An interesting recital at the Cornish School, Seattle, Wash., was that of January 3 when Sara Y. B. Peabody presented her pupils—Mrs. Harry Rudabeck, Mrs. James N. Clapp, Mrs. J. R. Nichols, Constance Hart, Lois Lander-down and Ella Goff—assisted by Elizabeth Onsum, violin pupil of Maurice Loplat, and Kathryn Hazen, piano pupil of Anna Grant Dali, in a program of classical, romantic and modern compositions covering an unusually wide range of the best musical literature. John Hopper was at the piano. The program follows :
,״<?,Slesep'.wl¡? dost thou leave mi:? (Handel), The Summer Wind (Bishop), A Memory (Parks), A Birthday (R. Huntingdon Woodman), O, Mio Babbmo Caro from Gianni Schiachi (Puccini) Mrs Harry Rudabtck; duet, Sull’ Aria from Marriage of Figaro' (Mozart), Lois Landerdown and Ella Goff; Si Mes Vers Avaient (Hahn), Beau Soir (Debussy), Serenade (di Nogero), Trees (Ros-bach) The Nightingale Has a Lyre of Gold (Whelpley), Mrs. James N. Clapp; Gigue m G major (Mozart), Cracovienne Fantastique (Paderewski), Kathryn Hazen; Mattinata (Tosti), Vorrei Poterti Odiare (Denoudy), The Starling (Lehmann), Pluck This Little rlower (Ronald), Less Than the Dust (Woodford-Finden), Mrs J. R. Nichols; Legende (Wieniawski), Elizabeth Onsum; The Nut Tree (Schumann), Pale Moon (Logan), Vale (Russell), Yesterday and Today (Spross), and Robin Woman’s Song (Cadman), Constance Hart.
A Busy Month for Flonzaley Quartet.
Beginning January 4 with Detroit, the Flonzaley Quartet played in St. Louis on January 6, and then without a day’s interruption, Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Niagara Falls and Geneseo. He will then appear in Ithaca, Aurora and Philadelphia, reaching New York January 15, one day before its Aeolian Hall concert. For the second New York program these musicians will play the following quartets: the Brahms A minor, Playdn’s В flat major, and the G major of the Bohemian composer, Vitezslav Novak.
January 18 the quartet will give its second Boston subscription concert, then without a day intervening it will play Westfield, New Brunswick, Brooklyn and Washington. A second appearance in Washington will be a private engagement at the home of Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, January 24.
From Washington the quartet will journey to Chicago for the second concert of its series in that city. A busy month, indeed.
Unusually Successful Appearance for Hackett.
Arthur Hackett made an unusually successful appearance with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, as tenor soloist in The Messiah. “Mr. Hackett, as always, plea'sed by the beauty of his excellently schooled voice,” was the summing-up of the Herald. The Globe wrote as follows: “Arthur Hackett has been heard here more than once as tenor soloist in various choral works. He has never sung better than yesterday when .he accomplished the rare feat of singing the florid parts of his solos with every note clear and distinct, yet sitavely legato.”
Mr. Hackett has been engaged by the Toronto Oratorio Society for its production of Elijah on February 6, and in Hamilton, Ontario, with the Elgar Choir.
Lily Strickland’s Songs Broadcasted
Under the direction of Howard McKinney, the Rutgers College Glee Club sang on December 11 to the biggest audience in its history. From the twenty-fourth floor of tlie American Telegraph and Telephone Building, officially known as the WEAF !)roadcasting station, this well trained organization rendered a carefully prepared program. One of the features was an arrangement for men’s voices of Lily Strickland’s famous Bayou Songs, now regularly heard in concerts throughout the country. The glee club boasts of an exceptionally good baritone soloist in the person of Harold R. Lambert, to whom was allotted the solo parts in the Bayou songs. Mr. Lambert also broadcasted McKinney's De San’man’s Song.
Jacob Gegna Recital, January 23
Jacob Gegna, Russian violinist, and a preparatory teacher to Prof. Leopold Auer, will give a recital in Town Hall on Tuesday evening, January 23. His program will be made up of compositions by Senaillie, Viotti, Bach, Levenson, Gilman, Mitnitzky, Wieniawski and Gerber-Gegna.
$35,000 Organ for Town Hall
James Speyer has presented $35,000 to the Town Hall with which to purchase a pipe organ which will be installed as a memorial to his late wife, Ellen.
MUSICAL COURIER
AMSTERDAM GIVES QUEEN A ROYAL MUSICAL WELCOME
Program by Modern Dutch Composers a Special Feature—Orchestras Play Other Late Compositions—Loevensohn and Mengelberg Delight with Joint Recital—American Pianists and Singers Attain Distinction
and Mainardi), recently heard in the cycle, is not a very happy combination, lacking balance through Serato’s inaptitude for chamber music. This was even noticeable in a sonata evening here a few weeks ago, when, with Consolo, he played sonatas by Busoni, Resphigi and Pizzetti.
American Pianists Heard.
Besides Ernest Schelling, who played the F minor concerto of Chopin under Mengelberg, we recently heard Percy Grainger, and both of them scored strikingly. Mr. Grainger followed his orchestral appearance with a recital in which Ins virtuosity and musicianship were again much admired, although, strange to say, in playing some of his own works, he failed to arouse any enthusiasm.
It seems strange that a pianistic giant, as Moriz Rosenthal unquestionably is, should be so little known in Holland until the last two seasons. His playing and colossal genius need no description here; suffice it to say, that the success he had at his recent recital here was phenomenal and will remain unforgettable.
American Singer Pleases.
Harriet van Emden, American soprano, attained a real success in her recent song recital here. Her voice is one of much clarity and suppleness, which qualities she had ample opportunity to show in a group of lieder by Mendelssohn and Richard Hageman, of Chicago, as well as in arias by Mozart and Bellini.
Other vocalists gaining favorable attention were Emmy Leisner, long a favorite here, who again aroused her audience to much enthusiasm by her charming vocal gifts, and
“She is a singer of rare gifts and attainments, whose work shows serious purpose and fine mentality, as well as the natural endowment of voice.”
'1 he Buffalo (N. Y.) Express said the above about May Peterson, soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Co,
Mia Peltenburg, a rising young Dutch singer, as soloist in Mahler’s fourth symphony, conducted by Cornelis Dopper.
Schmuller’s Bach Programs.
At the second program of this series, Alexander Schmuller again astonished us with his great knowledge. There seems to be nothing in violin literature he does not know. On this occasion he played, besides a Partita, the first solo sonata in G minor, and the double concerto, in which he had the assistance of his pupil, Sepha Jansen. It was only recently that he played the Busoni concerto with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the first audition given to this work here since Telmanyi played it twelve years ago.	S. K.
Schelling Plays His Suite Fantastique for Fiftieth Time
When Ernest Schelling appeared with the New York I hilharmonic at Carnegie Hall on December 31, he established a record by playing his own Suite Fantastique for the fiftieth time. This composition has acquired an international vogue on symphonic programs, and such a record of public performances for a living composer-pianist is one of which he can be justly proud. This number of performances includes such widely separated musical world centers as London, New York, Petrograd, Rotterdam Amsterdam, The Hague, Rome, and Paris. Mr. Schelling has had the support of such distinguished conductors as Nikisch, Damrosch, Muck, Stransky, Mengelberg (to whom the composition is dedicated), Fiedler, Stock, Richter and many others.
Pietro Yon at Philadelphia Theater
Pietro A. Yon, eminent concert. organist and honorary organist of the Vatican, Rome, Italy, played a week’s engagement as soloist at the Stanley Theater in Philadelphia commencing December 18. Mr. Yon, who is known in all
Amsterdam, December 9.—The Queen’s annual visit to Amsterdam, which has just taken place, has been the occasion for social and musical festivities galore. This annual visit being looked forward to as an event of great importance, it is only natural that lavish preparations should be made for the Queen’s entertainment, and the musical season is usually planned so as to reach its climax during her presence here.
Of especial interest was a concert given at the Concertgebouw, which had a truly national flavor, inasmuch as the Queen and her court were present to hear a program devoted entirely to the works of Dutch composers. Almost unknown outside the frontiers of little Holland, the composers represented on this program are very active, and, if for nothing else than to acquaint the rest of the world with their work, this concert was one of national importance.
Johan Wagenaar, director of the Royal Conservatory at the Hague and a composer of much ■talent, was represented by his overtures to The Taming of the Shrew and Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as by excerpts from his Aladdin and Bed ’El Budux. Though not revealing any striking originality, he nevertheless demonstrated a mastery of form and an unusual facility in orchestration. His idiom seems ■to be a sort of halfway between Wagner and Strauss, although never venturing beyond the realm of the latter. In one respect, however, he is quite remarkable, and that is as a pedagog, having a number of pupils who soon will, or already do, outshine him as a composer.
Probably the brightest star of these is Willem Pijper, who is at present causing much comment in musical circles. Compared to him, Mahler and Schonberg seem old-fashioned. In his second symphony, which he conducted himself, one vainly sought the clue to his train of thought. This second symphony gives the impression of being created by a man who knew what he wanted, nevertheless I am sure that very few others did. One heard the strangest noises and combinations, which seemed to express, in a sombre way, ideas of musical irony. Pijper, however, has written music much more pleasant to one’s auditory nerves, namely, a sonata for violin, one for cello, and his first symphony There is no doubt about his holding the most prominent place among all the young Dutch composers.
At the same concert, two other pupils of Wagenaar, Van Anrooy and Van Goudoever were represented: the former by his rhapsody Piet Heijin, cleverly built on national themes, and van Goudoever by his suite for cello and orchestra, written in the style of modern dances. This work, combining piquancy and lovely color effects, was splendidly performed by the composer and met with a successful reception.
More Modern Music.
At another orchestral concert, conducted by Cornelis Dopper, two compositions of the modem French school, Darius Milhaud’s Protee and Debussy’s Iberia, deserve mention. Besides these, special mention is due Ernest Schelling’s Impressions of an Artist’s Life, which was heard here for the first time and received a very flattering reception.
Aside from being a rather pleasant change, there was nothing especially noteworthy about an all-Russian program which Mengelberg gave, excepting Glazounoff’s fine fourth symphony, a work heard here much too seldom. A novelty, of _ which much was expected, was a symphony by Lazar Saminsky, but it turned out to be rather uninteresting. Mengelberg conducted the entire program with that authority and artistic finish to which we have long become accustomed through his conscientious effort with all his programs, even those which happen not to contain works bv Mahler.
Mengelberg’s well known Mahler fanaticism made itself even more strongly felt, when, not satisfied with several performances thus far this season of that master’s Ninth Symphony, he has just produced it here again. Little wonder that the boundless enthusiasm with which he conducts this work should be contagious to his audiences. On this occasion, it was not only wonderfully interpreted by Mengelberg, but splendidly performed by his men as well, and the success achieved by both was extraordinary.
Delightful Chamber Music.
A concert which was a real event, and one that aroused the enthusiasm of a crowded hall, was the joint recital given by Marx Loevensohn and Mengelberg. A concerto by Phillip Emanuel Bach for cello, played by Lovensohn and accompanied by Mengelberg at the harpsichord, was a performance of rare artistic subtlety; and a sonata by Boccherini was beautifully played by the cellist, to an accompaniment of great precision and delicacy by Mengelberg. The second half of the program was devoted to works by Schubert and Schumann. It was the purest delight to hear these two admirable artists interpret the music in all its nobility and simple beauty. As can be imagined, their success was. a memorable one.
Among other chamber music concerts, which deserve notice, was that of the Holland String Quartet, appearing in the Beethoven cycle instituted by the local impresario, Felix Augustin, who has engaged well-known interpreters of chamber music from various countries. It is highly interesting to hear Beethoven performed by musicians of different nationalities. The Italian Trio (Consolo, Serato
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