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MUSICAL COURIER
January 2 5, 1923
“Thirteenth” and the Wolfsohn Bureau Artists
Superstitions applied to the thirteenth day of any month are universal the world over, yet Saturday, January 13, bowled over these superstitions as it pertains to the success of Wolfsohn Bureau artists, especially those who appeared in New York. First, Josef Hofmann gave a recital in Carnegie Hall with a program of “meat” for the exacting musicians, that was listened to and applauded by an audience of the usual Hofmann style. Better still, William J. Henderson of the New York Herald, reviewing the concert, to use his own words, “makes no hesitation in declaring that yesterday afternoon he heard the greatest piano recital within his recollection.”
In the afternoon, at the Metropolitan Opera, in Manon, Lucrezia Bori and Mario Chamlee made another hit with a huge audience, and the critics as well. The writer in the Herald (January 14) had the following to say of these artists: “Miss Bori was again a joy to the eye, ear, and understanding, while Mr. Chamlee sang Des Grieux as he did before with beautiful tone and with a fervor which rose to its climax in Fuyez deuce image.
And then Paul Bender assumed for the first time here the role of Wotan at the opera that Saturday night, and he too, came in for his share of the unusual critical praise showered upon the Wolfsohn Musical Bureau artists for that day. The Herald said: “For once the landlord of Walhalla looked big enough to rule such an unruly company as the Norse gods. Mr. Bender’s fine dramatic instinct and his ponderous voice were put to good use. There was an impressive dignity in his delineation of the emotions caused by the imperative demands of Fricka and indication of sorrow and hopelessness rather than futile anger. And in the whole impersonation there was a mastery of the union of human and godlike qualities in Wotan. Mr. Bender sang with artistic judgment and a respect for melodic character of Wagner’s declamation too often neglected by German artists.”
Elisabeth Rethberg sang the part of Sieglinde with her usual big success. “This young singer with a truly beautiful voice,” says W. J. Henderson in a general review on singers, printed in the Herald of January 7, “has so much temperament. She has accomplished far more in her short period here by singing with discretion than if she had pushed her tones and transformed them into shrieks.”
While Hofmann, Bori, Chamlee, Rethberg, and Bender were all to the front in the musical doings of New York, •Albert Spalding was playing with the St. Louis Orchestra, Toscha Seidel with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Maria Ivogiin was soloist in Chicago with the Chicago Orchestra.
Van Hoogstraten as Guest Conductor
Willem Van Hoogstraten will appear as guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra on this evening and tomorrow afternoon at Carnegie Hall. His program includes Brahms’ fourth symphony, the overture to Weber’s Der Freischütz, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and Liszt’s Hungarian rhapsody, No. 1.
Next Sunday at Carnegie Hall, Josef Stransky will make his last appearance of the season with the Philharmonic Orchestra'in an all-Wagner program.
Noted Trio of Artists for King Olaf at Mt. Carmel
Grace Kerns, soprano; Judson House, tenor, and Fred Patton, baritone, have been engaged for a performance of Busch’s King Olaf at Mt. Carmel, Pa., on May 14 next. At present the artists are all busy filling individual dates already announced.
AEOLIAN HALL
34 West 43rd Street
Friday Afternoon FEBRUARY 9th
AT 3 O’CLOCK
Violoncello Recital By
ARTURO
BONUCCI
Uses the “V1RZI” Tone Producer in his own Guarnerius
Show Room for "VIRZI” Tone Producer, 503 Fifth Avenue, New York ־City
Cohen and S. S. Karr; violin—Esther Aleinikoff, Aaron Molind and Hyman Bassofsky; voice—Berta Levin; musical science and history—Jacob Gessel; harmony and composition—Rosalie Cohen ; clarinet and saxophone—A. Belov. Other brass and wood-wind instruments are taught by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Suzanne Gallien’s Success at Hotel Plaza
Suzanne Gallien, French mezzo-contralto, made her New York debut at the Hotel Plaza on December 15, in a performance that accounted for her great success abroad. Not only is her charming voice a delight to her hearers, but she also possesses the power of emotional expression and gesticulation.
Her program was largely taken up by a presentation of La Chouanne, an opera in one act, by Edmond Missa, produced in this country for the first time. The story concerns a young Brittany girl, Jennine, whose family belongs to les
SUZANNE GALLIEN
Chouannes, a political party of the times. Her suitor, she believes, is a Republican spy and, to prove the truth of her suspicions, pretends that she loves him. He confesses that he is a Republican officer and is to give a signal to the■ troops to destroy the town and its inhabitants. She stabs him, but upon seeing him near death, repents of her deed as she realizes that her love for him is after all not a pretense. To atone for her act she promises to give the signal for him, and herself dies as the Republican soldiers storm the little Breton village.
Mme. Gallien was ably assisted by Ulysses Paquin, baritone, in this splendid performance which will long remain in the memory of those privileged to see it. Mme. Gallien, in addition to the opera, sang several difficult solos which were warmly received. She is at present organizing a school of dictipn and voice-production in New York. It is believed that she will later make a tour of the Canadian Northwest with her company.
Erna Cavelle Appearances
Among the programs given recently by Erna Cavelle, soprano, was one at the Ampico studios on Thursday evening, January 4. Songs by Rachmaninoff, Ganz, Wolf and Strauss were" sung feelingly and with beautiful tone, while American composers were represented by Hageman, La Forge, Cadman and Gertrude Ross, all well interpreted. Between groups Dr. Sigmund Spaeth spoke^ informally and interestingly on The Rule of Three in Music.
Miss Cavelle was soloist at a reception held Saturday afternoon, January 6. at the home of Mrs. Homer Wessel on Park avenue. The guests included a number of well known musicians, who expressed their appreciation of the lovely quality of Miss Cavelle’s voice. Pauline Arnoux MacArthur, author of The Apocalypse, poured tea.
May Peterson On Tour
May Peterson, soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, to prove that the thirteenth held no superstitions for her, purchased her tickets and Pullman reservations and started on her third concert tour of the Pacific Coast, which embraces thirteen recitals from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
SALVATORE FUCITO
VOCAL TEACHER and COACH
FOR FIVE YEARS WITH CARUSO IN CONCERT AND OPERATIC WORK—AUTHOR OF ‘׳CARUSO
SINGING”
Nevada Apartment
Telephone—C olumbus 6944
AND THE ART OF
2025 Broadway New York City
BERLIN CONCERTS
Week of December 18
Marcella Roeseler—Georg Liebling.
The excellent and charming soprano of the Volksoper, Marcella Roeseler, gave a recital in conjunction with Georg Liebling, composer-pianist, whose songs formed the major and most interesting part of the program. These songs are imbued with the spirit of German romanticism and are the product of an extremely sensitive and tasteful musician, with a highly developed feeling for lyric poetry. Miss Roeseler, whose lovely, clear soprano has been praised in these pages before, succeeded in getting an enthusiastic response from the audience. She also sang songs by Mozart, Korngold and Strauss. Mr. Liebling, who has made a brilliant career as a pianist, played the accompaniments of his own songs with fine artistry and shared the honors of the evening. It is worth noting that Miss Roeseler will soon be heard in America, as a member of the German opera troupe under the direction of Georg Hartmann. C.S.
Ilse Veda Duttlinger.
A young American violinist, Use Veda Duttlinger, who began her career here in Germany in the early years of the war, has reappeared in Berlin for the first time, and her program, including the Devil’s Trill sonata of Tartini and the Dohnányi concerto shows that her ambitions are high. She is a sympathetic artist, though nervousness prevented her from giving her best at this debut. Commendable is her desire to give something new and unhackneyed. Thus she played for the first time in Berlin a romanza and a scherzo by Sverre Jordan, a Norwegian composer, and a MS. sonata for violin and piano by B. Namtos, in which she had the able support of Waldemar Liachowsky. Neither of the new works, however, aroused particular interest.
A. P. Q.
Edward Weiss.
The third of the five piano recitals of Edward Weiss, one of the most ambitious of the younger Americans, was a Liszt evening, which included, very appropriately, the rarely heard Christmas Tree, a set of twelve effective little pieces, three Valse oubliées, and the B minor sonata, by the spirited rendition of which he achieved a fine success.
Hyman Rovinsky.
Hyman Rovinsky, though a product of America, is decidedly a pianist of the poetic type, who errs rather on the side of too great delicacy than on that of forceful abandon, which one would expect of a “young” continent. The moderns are thus far his most grateful field, and his playing of Debussy is much nearer the ideal than anything else he does. For Bartok (Allegro barbaro) he does not muster sufficient uncouth strength. His Liszt sonata brought him most applause; it was colorful and romantic—even sentimental— to a degree. All in all an artist of the utmost earnestness and one who has the courage of his convictions. His technic is, of course, above reproach.	C. S.
Charles Naegele.
The latest addition to the ranks of American pianists concertizing in Europe is Charles Naegele, who has recently been working with Artur Schnabel in Berlin. His first Berlin program, after the model of his master, consisted of three large works—César Franck’s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, Chopin’s B minor sonata, and the Symphonic Etudes of Schumann. Mr. Naegele has besides an adequate technical equipment, a vigorous, incisive style and a strong rhythmic and formal sense that carries his message and maintains interest throughout. He is moreover not without originality and sense of fantasy, which as he gains a greater deliberateness, will give his playing distinction _ and a character of its own. He is a young artist of considerable accomplishment and of still greater promise.	C. S.
Alice Louise Mertens Sings in Leonia, N. J.
Alice Louise Mertens, contralto, presented her own original lecture-recital of Music of the Orient by Oriental and Occidental Composers, at the Women’s Club of Leonia, N. J., on January 16. With Gladys Grove at the piano, Miss Mertens delighted the audience with her singing, revealing a voice of fine caliber and a knowledge of interpretation that made her work at .all times delightful. The program follows :
Oriental Music in Its Original Form—
Raga Basantabaha (India) Piano Solo.
Durwan’s Song. Song of Hindoo Ploughmen.............Arr. Bantock
Snake Charmer’s Song (India) Piano..................Arr. Bantock
Songs of Egypt...................................Granville Bantock
La Ilia Ha 111 Allah (There is no Deity but God), Dervish Song The Unutterable.
The Lament of Isis	...	„ x .
Songs of Persia.................•................Granville Bantock
In the Harem.
Drinking Song.
For piano—	e
Chant en l’Honneur..................................Rifet Bey
Written for Ghazi Osman Pascha
Dramatic Dances of the Orient..................Granville Bantock
Snake Dance.
Dance of the Cymbals.
Gladys Grove
Syria and Persia—
Syrian Lullaby (folk song).....................Bantock
The Nautch Girl (Songs of India)............ Granville Bantock
Japanese Folk Songs (Sung in Japanese) ......Arr. Koscak Yamada
Counting Song, Buddhist Chant, Flower Song, Cradle Song Song of the Pleasure Seekers	.	.	׳
Watching ......................................Bainbridge Crist
From Drolleries from an Oriental Doll’s House	.
Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes..................Arr. Bainbridge Crist
Translation by Prof. Isaac T. Headland Lady Bug, What the Old Cow Said, The Mouse, Of What Use Is a Girl, Pat-a-Cake, The Old Woman.
Faculty of Logan Conservatory Listed
The object of the Logan Conservatory of Music, founded by three well known musicians of Philadelphia, is to teach the art and science of music and its related branches, m the most thorough and comprehensive manner, and to develop in its students the highest respect for an appreciation of the art of music. All teaching, in all branches, is under the personal supervision of the directors, Harry Aleinikoff, head of the violin department; Josef Wissow, head of the piano department, and Jacob Gessel, cellist, who IS a“° managing director of the conservatory. Other members of the faculty include: piano—Anna Newhoff, Lewis Brovvn, Eleanor Hughes, Fannie Friedman, Josef Schribman, Rosalie