RICHARfi HAGEMAN
TRIUMPHS AS CONDUCTOR
with Chicago Civic Opera Company
“Taste, refinement, force and fine feeling for climax.”—Chicago Examiner.
“Hageman a power.”—“Best conductor of French repertory we have ever heard at Auditorium.”—Chicago Evening American.
“Master conductor.”—“Scores heavily.”—Chicago Daily News.
“Incisive beat—command of his forces.”—Chicago Daily Post.
“Scholar, taste, sensibility of mood, gift of great conductor.”
—Chicago Daily Journal.
“Superb showman.”—“Conductor of first rank.”—Chicago Tribune.
finesse, the deftness and the flow of melody always silken if sometimes thin ingrained in these scores of a vanished epoch.
CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL (Eugene Stinson).—In
view of his limited chance this season to show his style Hageman was fortunate in his opportunity last night. He has a fine sense of operatic cohesion, a neat hand at regulating speed and complete control of his men. He can give a tune its proper swagger without letting its glitter seem to have imposed upon his better judgment. The overture he brought to a stirring close.
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE (Edward Moore)—Di-rector Hageman shares honors with singers. Hits became too numerous to count last night at the Auditorium. They began with the overture and continued during and after the acts until the end. After Richard Hageman had finished the overture, he was given a reception such as no conductor has had before this season.
CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL (Eugene Stinson).—
Richard Hageman another of his infrequent but agreeable visits to the conductor’s stand. He of all tne season’s personnel seems to belong to that of last year, which was so conspicuous for unutilized and costly talent.
“MANON”
CHICAGO AMERICAN (Herman Devries).—Hageman wins audience in French opera. Last night s performance of “Manon” demands in first place the name of Richard Hageman, who thus goes on record as the best conductor of French opera we have ever heard at the Auditorium. Mr. Hageman knows not only the technicalities of the score but all the traditions of its Parisian alma mater so that the tempe were absolutely and entirely those of the Salle Fa״ort. The orchestra sparkled and snapped during the sprightly opening scenes and thereafter obediently followed the moods of the play under Mr. Hageman s sympathetic guidance. Mr. Hageman had his way with the orchestra and stirred them into some of the loveliest and crispest playing of the season.
CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL (Eugene Stinson).—
Richard Hageman appearing after a long absence conducted with refreshing spirit which did little to explain why he has not been more frequently in use.
He received due attention from the audience.
CHICAGO DAILY NEWS (Maurice Rosenfeld).—
“Manon” by Massenet, was added last evening and under the direction of Richard Hageman was performed with orchestral finish and admirable ensemble of botn vocal and instrumental forces.	__
It may be safely stated that in many years this opera has not had such an illuminative and colorful reading as that given by the young Dutch conductor Flageman. He brought out of the elegant French partiture all the nuances of color and rhythm and scored a big success for his part of the production. The entire production reflected most credit upon Hageman, who had the singers as well as the orchestra under perfect control He knew how to accentuate the music with its many rhythms, so that it came forth with color and dynamic variety.
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE (Edward Moore).—
“Manon” at the Auditorium last night turned out to be one of the most delightful and best played works in the whole season of the Chicago Civic Opera last night Amelita Galli Curci and Tito Schipa were the!stars but quite outside of their individual and well deserved sue cesses the success of the performance as a whole rested Spon the shoJlders of one man, the conductor Richard Hageman. For Manon is a French opera down to its last line and its last convention and in the cast there wire only three French artists, but Mr. Hageman, not only a fine conductor but a superb showman in a line of endeavor where showmanship is not always regarded as highly as it ought to be, took the various dwerS®„fill ments and welded them together in a smooth, flexible and delightful unity. Incidentally the orchestra played under his baton as if it was Inspired.
There was a splendid co-operation between stage and pit, and this was another element which went to make the occasion memorable.
“CARMEN”
CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Edward Moore) .—Apparently the company in acquiring his services has made an important artistic addition to its ranks. This was neither unsuspected nor surprising to those who, during some half dozen summers, watched him and his methods at Ravinia, but it is none the less gratifying to know that the Chicago Opera has secured another first-class conductor.	_ ,
First-class he certainly was in his debut. Only a few operas in all the long list run with as high percentage of pure gold in the score as Carmen, and it is always the duty of the conductor to find and reproduce the gold. This Mr. Hageman did, emphasizing here, bringing out a bit of lyric rapture there.
The house called him a success, and to that verdict an additional vote is here appended.
CHICAGO HERALD AND EXAMINER (Glenn Dillard Gunn). — Mr. Hageman is an efficient master of the baton. He knows his score, his orchestra and his singers. -He has taste, refinement, force and a fine feeling for climax.
CHICAGO EVENING POST (Karleton Hackett).—He has an incisive beat—command of his forces, and shows that he understands the spirit of the music. He conducted with vigor and the orchestra responded to him.
THE CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL (Eugene Stinson).
—He is already known as a scholar, and he gave evidence of having that taste and sensibility to mood which is an essential gift of a great conductor.
CHICAGO DAILY NEWS (Maurice Rosenfeld). — He put much vigor and spirit into the performance of the music of the opera. He was alert, held the personnel well together and gave to the reading of the score the sharp accent and precision that it called for. He proved himself a fine musician and a gifted conductor.
CHICAGO EVENING AMERICAN (Herman Devries).
— Mr. Hageman at the desk is a master accompanist on a grand scale. The quintet deserves particularly ardent praise. It was a stunning piece of vocal virtuosity and of consummate perfection of musicianship. He conducted forcefully with vivacity and verve.
“MARTHA”
CHICAGO DAILY NEWS (Maurice Rosenfeld).— Richard Hageman who conducted was an important factor in the presentation (Martha). He received an individual acknowledgment from the audience for the manner in which he conducted the overture which was excellently played and he held the entire production well in hand dominating the concerted numbers and the chorus with firm grasp. The performance of “Martha, was another distinctive success for the Chicago Civic Opera Co.
CHICAGO DAILY AMERICAN (Herman Devries).—■ Martha a great triumph. Last night Martha was greeted by genuine, demonstrative joy. Richard Hageman s crisp, clever conducting of the overture won long sustained applause repeated later in the evening when Mr. Hageman appeared upon the stage with the singers.
There is no question of Mr. Hageman s attainments and artistic assets. He is thoroughly equipped with the requirements for his professional capacity. A musician of parts equally interesting and efficient as a composer and accompanist he brings knowledge and sympathy to his position at the conductor’s desk.
Comparison of Mr. Hageman with certain other former leaders of the French repertoire in Chicago can only result in his own glorification.	.
The chorus need we say was a refreshment to tne ear.
CHICAGO EXAMINER (Glenn Dillard Gunn). — A sparkling performance of “Martha” at_fhe .Auditorium last evening centered attention on Miss Edith Mason the Lady Enrichetta of the brilliant cast which sang the lively old classic—and on Richard Hageman the con-
dUUnder his baton the genial veteran of the repertory was brought to life again with much of the aristocratic
“SNIEGUROTCHKA”
CHICAGO EVENING AMERICAN (Herman Devries.) —Hageman a power. My prophecy that Richard Hageman would loom large in his directorial capacity with the presentation of ״‘The Snow Maiden” was fulfilled. Hageman was a power—a force. He knows every line of the score and directs it with absolute mastery. He was as potent in the pit as he was a support and inspiration to the artists, and let me add that his conducting of the third act ballet put him in first rank as a symphony chef d’orchestre, as well as an operatic leader of ripe ability.
CHICAGO DAILY NEWS (Maurice Rosenfeld.)—Score heavily for the Chicago Civic Opera Co., for last eve it gave to its guarantors and subscribers one of the most beautiful opera presentations that we have had since Chicago Opera became an established fact. “Sniegu-rotchka” proved a delightful entertainment and a real musical treat. Richard Hageman conducted, and gave to the musical part of the performance poise, rhythmic steadiness, swing and color. He conducted with musi-cianly authority, and also read into the score lightness, elasticity and grace. He not only supported the singers and dancers on the stage, but he brought out of this partiture all the TONAL EFFECTS AND COLOR that his big body of instrumentalists were capable of bringing forth. He showed himself a master conductor and earned much of the applause for the excellence of the performance.
CHICAGO DAILY JOURNAL (Eugene Stinson).—
Richard Hageman, who conducted, shared with Roerich (artist who made scenery) the honors of the performance and the applause of the audience. The burden of preparing the musical part of the new presentation has rested upon his shoulders, and he alone stood responsible for its virtues or defects. The result was one to do him great credit and the cause for congratulation that he is a member of the company.
The work proceeded smoothly. The orchestration is written with consummate skill to suit a many angled purpose. The rich points were revealed with the hand of a surgeon, and the speed of the performance was kept to an excellent notch,
CHICAGO HERALD AND EXAMINER (Glenn Dillard Gunn).—One remembers first the orchestra, the chorus, the ballet. Sharing the first honors was the conductor, Richard Hageman, who found time in the crowded first week and in the equally hectic weeks that preceded it, to perfect so fine and vigorous an ensemble in a new and complicated work.
The score bristles with difficulties, most of them that fundamental kind that derive from rhythm. Thus the final chorus moves in elevens. Fives and threes and fours are mixed indiscriminately.
The spirit, as well as the matter, so complexly presented, was caught and projected by Mr. Hageman with fine sympathy. Yet he was duly thoughtful of the singers, and none could complain that orchestral support was intrusive or overemphatic.
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Edward Moore).—If the
Chicago Civic Opera Co. does nothing else notably for the rest of the season, it would still have justified its right to exist from the manner in which it brought out Rimsky-Korsakoff’s “Sniegurotchka” last night. Here was an opera and a performance which sent memory scurrying back through the twelve years that Chicago has had its own opera to find something comparable m charm. Memory returns defeated. The performance was as smooth and well balanced as though it had been rehearsed for months and played for weeks with not a hitch or a flaw anywhere. It has been mentioned here and there that the opera company rejoices this season in a staff of conductors of the first rank—one of them was in charge last night—Richard Hageman. It was not only a musical performance in which to take delight, but an. acting one as well. Even the chorus accustomed to stroll on and off as a singing organization pure and simple, became on this occasion a set of efficient and delightful actors, wherefore there was applause at every act and nearly every song, curtain calls that brought out the Conductor Hageman.
CHICAGO JOURNAL OF COMMERCE (Paul B. Martin).—A delightful work this, and delightfully it was read by Richard Hageman, whose understanding of this score is not only technically thorough, but is evidently based upon that wider knowledge which comes from a complete accord with the purpose of the. composer. The orchestra under Mr. Hageman’s direction has seldom been heard to better advantage than last night, nor have singers been given better leadership and support.
Mr. Hageman Has Re-opened His New York Studios
73rd Street and Broadway, New York
Phone: Endicott 3320
Temporary Address: Hotel Ansonia