NEW YORK, THURSDAY,
February 1, 1923.
/V\VSICAL(ÔURIER
VOL. LXXXVI—No. 5. Whole No. 2234.
SOVIET RUSSIA’S COMPOSERS TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF CONDITIONS AND DISPLAY GREAT ACTIVITY
Moscow Now the Center of Art as Well as Government—Youngest Generation Produces Interesting Works—State Acts
as Publisher
in T?nTii’S artkl!L w"״en, *,S' ^rc¿• V. Belaieff, contains the first detailed information concerning creative activity Inti״?in ״ ,lnce the Revolution. Some of the names mentioned are wholly new to the western world and the works entirely unknown, but the activity of the older musicians of world reputation is covered as well.
״it״ nf/i, iiralett Wl1¿• T subsequent letters, report on the present life in the Russian capital. He is on the fac-n.Lrw t Moscow State Academy of Music and he is also a member of the council in charge of the Music Department of the Government General Printing Office—in other words, he is a Bolshevik official. According ' reports, everything is much more roseate in Russia than one has been led to believe. It may be that his [f f?vor?bly colored by his connections, but the Musical Courier will print his letters as they are re-ceived, leaving it to the reader to place his own value upon them.
״f mLZ n.otIcefble> for instance that the name of Arthur Lourie, the recently deposed Bolshevik Commissioner ?nV	I eL6n .me"t.IO,n?d m, tbls article, although up to the time he stepped down, the Government Print-
ing Department, Music Division, had printed a great many of his compositions.—The Editor.!
song, which is •repeated by a woman's choir in the final movement. Of a more intimate and domestic character is the seventh symphony, utilizing as it does the waltz and cradle song movements. Not only is Miaskowsky one of the foremost symphonists, but he is equally interesting in his vocal and piano music, especially praiseworthy being his third sonata and the tone-poem Alastor, after Shelley. Miaskowsky’s biography, written by Igor Glaboff, will (Continued on page 58)
BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE OF AIDA OPENS THE CHICAGO OPERA SEASON IN BOSTON
Representative Audience Fills House—Muzio, Marshall, Van Gordon and Formichi the Stars—Polacco Impresses as Conductor—Garden, Macbeth, Holst, Mason, Raisa, Crimi, Lamont, Baklanoff, Rimini Feature Other Performances During Week
Boston, Mass., January 28.—A brilliant audience, representative of Boston society, first nighters and opera lovers in general, greeted the Chicago Civic Opera Company at the opening of its season here, Monday evening, January 22, at the Boston Opera House. The management did well to select Aida for this occasion, both because of _ its possibilities—musically, scenically, artistically—and because of the thoroughly adequate manner in which the performance measured up to these possibilities. Not in many years has Boston witnessed so elaborate and beautiful a production of Verdi’s popular work. The settings were gorgeous, the costumes strikingly colorful and the lighting excellently managed. The chorus had been well drilled and the ballet, thanks to the fine creative ability of Adolph Bolin, was a much more important and enjoyable part of the performance than has usually been the case. Viewed musically, the conspicuous feature of the production was the altogether masterful conducting of Mr. Polacco. He gave an extraordinary reading ofthe score, missing no details and yet achieving impressive dramatic effects, as, for example, in his handling of the triumphal scene at the close of the second act..
Claudia Muzio sang the title role, replacing Rosa Raisa who had been announced to sing but was suffering from a severe cold, Mme. Muzio arrived in Boston at noon on Monday from Chicago and had suffered from car sickness most of the way. Nevertheless, she consented to sing in order to help the performance, and, although naturally not in perfect condition, her performance of Aida was one that will long be remembered. She sang the music expressively and acted with a fine regard for the dramatic values of the part. Cyrena Van Gordon was a splendid Amneris—vocally, dramatically, visually. Miss Van Gordon has made tremendous strides since her last appearance in this city a few years ago and gave a convincing and thoroughly effective portrayal. Charles Marshall, who sang Radames, is a product of New England and was heard here for the first time. His is a manly, well-directed voice, and he is admirably fitted for heroic roles of this type. Mr. Marshall’s singing of the Celeste Aida was vigorously applaude'd. Cesare Formichi was a commanding figure as Amonasro, singing and acting with uncommon skill. Virgilio Lazzari as Ramfis, Edouard Cotreuil as the king, Melvena Passmore as the priestess and Lodovico Oliviero as the messenger maintained the high standard set by the principals and rounded out the cast admirably. The leading singers and Mr. Polacco were recalled many times by the enthusiastic audience.
It may be interesting to note some comments from the press regarding general aspects of the performance and the visit to this city of the Chicago company. In the Herald, Philip Hale said: “Not within twenty years has there been in Boston so sumptuous a production of the opera.” Olin Downes in the Post wrote, ‘The performance was very brilliant. It attracted by far the most representative audience which has gathered for an operatic performance in this city. . . . There was a long forgotten atmosphere of opera, for the opening of a season which is expected to be the first of repeated annual^ visits by a company with artistic resources ample to the reinstatement in Boston of opera of the most representative kind.” In the Transcript, Warren Storey Smith declared that ‘ The general excellence, the truly remarkable quality of the performance of Aida at the Opera House last evening may or may not be maintained through the fortnight that the Chicago Company will spend here. But should there lie lapses and shortcomings, nothing can rob one audience or its pleasure and satisfaction in having seen once again our Opera House, on stage and in auditorium, fully restored to its ancient glories.”
Tosca.
La Tosca was the opera Tuesday evening with Mary (Continued on Page 8)
score of the latter was lost, but Liapounoff rewrote the work from the string parts, although no trace of the piano part lias ever been found. Besides all these there is a new violin concerto, but like all the others, the sextet ex-
cepted, has up to the present time never been publicly performed.
N. Miaskowsky.
In N. Miaskowsky, we meet one of the most gifted composers of the present generation. During the revolution alone. he wrote his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies, a third piano sonata, and numerous songs, besides rewriting his first symphony. Of all these works, only the sonata and the fifth symphony have been publicly performed, the latter once in Moscow under N. Malko (1920), and again in one of the series of “concerts without a conductor.” The fourth symphony is notable for moments of great excitement and tremendous dramatic climaxes. The fifth is of an entirely different character, being calm and simple, partaking almost of a pastoral mood. In the scherzo the composer utilizes two Galician folk songs which he jotted down while marching with his regiment through the Carpathian mountains.
The sixth symphony is a picture of the revolution as experienced. by. the composer. In the slow movement a soprano voice is introduced, singing an old Russian fo1k-
Moscow, December 20,—Within the last three years Mos-cow has become Russia’s leading city musically as well as politically. In fact, whereas Petrograd formerly was looked upon as the leading city in every respect, it now 1excels only on the scientific side chiefly because of the Academy of Science and the various high-schools, and even in this respect Petrograd seems to be losing its prestige, for it is noticeable that more and more of the big men in science are gradually moving away. With the removal of the Soviet’s seat of administration from Petrograd, there was a gradual movement in all lines towards the new capital, Moscow, including most of the important artists, composers, painters, etc., and now Moscow is far ahead of Petrograd in artistic importance since the evolution of art depends on the artists themselves.
This overcrowded city at present holds in. the palm of its hand, so to speak, the initiative power for the entire country. All the promising and ambitious shining lights of art, especially of the theater, are included among its millions, and these dominate in their especial fields of music and the drama.
In spite of the fact that Rachmaninoff,
Prokofieff, Medtner, Stravinsky, Catuar and other prominent composers are now residing in other lands, the development of Russian music has not been standing still, but on the contrary, is making big strides forward. There is no doubt that within the next decade Moscow will play the big role in Russian musical production.
Readers of the Musical Courier, especially those for whom Russian art has an especial appeal, may be interested in knowing just what some of their favorite Russian composers have accomplished in the way of new creations during the years of strife and revolution. With this "in mind I will add a brief sketch of the newest contributions the more prominent of the Russian composers have given to musical art.
The Russian Composers’ Society.
Aside from Glazounoff and Liapounoff, already well known throughout the world, and a number of less familiar names such as M. Steinberg, J. Akimenko, L. Nikol-sieff, M. Stcherbatcheff, etc., who are at present in Petrograd, practically every other Russian composer of note is now in Moscow. These have organized the Composers’ Society, carried on in accordance with and as a part of the Russian Society of Professional Artists. The most prominent members of this society are M. Ip-politoff-Iwanoff, S. .Vassilenko, R. Glière,
G. Conus, D. Goedike, August Krein, A.
Gretchaninoff, N. Miaskowsky, A. Alex-androff, S. Feinberg, ,W. Zolotareff, A.
Borchman, A. Shenshin, A. Shaposchin-koff, E. Pavloff, S. Evsseieff, and others.
All of these have accomplished much in their art, in spite of the tremendously difficult and strenuous times they have lived through in the past five years.
Alexander Glazounoff.
During the revolution, Glazounoff wrote a number of large fugues for piano, splendid examples of musical depth inspiration and masterful contrapuntal skill. Besides these he has also finished a Grand Fantasy for two pianos, and the sixth string quartet—a work which by reason of its complexity and freedom, elegance of style and the richness and color of the instrumental effects ■is extraordinarily interesting and is one which I believe would be warmly greeted in Europe and America. It has been often performed in Petrograd and at least once in Moscow by the Glazounoff Quartet (Lukaschewsky, Letchnikoff, Rywkin and Sisserman). At the present time Glazounoff is at work on his tenth symphony and a seventh quartet.
S. Liapounoff.
Neither has Liapounoff been idle, his new works being a second symphony, a number of piano pieces (including a Sonatina in D flat, and Valse No. 3, in E major), a large choral work with orchestra, numerous songs and a sextet for piano and string instruments. During the revolution the
-	MIECZYSLAW MUNIZ.	g
T_j	^tG young Polish pianist, who appeared as soloist with the Neio. York Symphony	g
g	Orchestra, under Albert Coates, in Aeolian Hall, New York, on Sunday afternoon,	g
January 11!, and gained the unanimous praise of public and critics.	3
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