39
MUSICAL COURIER
Stadium Auditions
for
Piano, Voice, Violin
beginning May 10, at Aeolian Hall, to select soloists for
STADIUM CONCERTS
All applications should be sent to MRS. WILLIAM COWEN, Chairman 250 West 57th Street, New York
firms, who spared no effort and helped to make these concerts the big success they proved to be.
With this enormous task completed, Mr. Regneas has taken up the detail of summer work at Raymond-on-Lake-Sebago, Me., where he will teach for the seventh consecutive season, from June 27 to September 12.
Recital of Alberti Artist-Pupils
Piano students of Sol Alberti and vocal students who have coached with him in repertory, united to give a program at the Haywood studios on April 15. The young pianists who participated were Edithe Brokamp, Arthur Burt and Mary Ludington; the vocalists, Ellen Scherff, Grace Herrington, Thomas Fuson, Margaret Mackay, Ethel Fuson and Firth Lee, the program ending with a duet from Madame Butterfly sung by Grace'Wagner and Fleeda Newton Alberti. The performances all emphasized the fact that Mr. Alberti is a musician of unusual attainments, for both the piano playing and the song interpretation were notable for musical quality. Mr. Alberti himself played the accompaniments for the singers in his accustomed finished manner. A large company of auditors filled the studio and were enthusiastic in their tributes both to pianists and singers.
SOPRANO of proven ability wanted for a tour of concerts with well known Baritone of the Metropolitan and Chicago Opera. Address “R.C.B.” care of Musical Courier, 437 5th Ave., New York.
advantageously presented. Mme. Godillot’s voice has warmth, brilliance and purity throughout and her easy delivery, artistic phrasing and intelligence made her singing a genuine delight. Her gift to the public during Music Week will doubtless result in eagerly awaiting her appearance in recital next׳ season. Mme. Godillot brings to this task all the requisites to hold an audience, which was enthralled throughout the program and wishing for .more at its conclusion. The. following were Miss Godillot’s songs:
Promised Land (old hymn)........................... Francis-Moore
Swing Song (Stevenson)............................. Francis Moore
Joy (Swinburne)....................................Francis Moore
Mr. Moore at the piano
Beauty’s Daughters (Byron)...................William H: Humiston
Yo te amo (Jonas)............................William H. Humiston
Alone With Thee (Keeler).....................William H. Humiston
Mr. Humiston at the piano
After Long Absence (Poems from the Japanese by Lafcadio
Hearn)................................... .Harold V. Milligan
Moonlight on the Sea (Poems from the Japanese by Lafcadio
Hearn)....................................Harold V. Milligan
April, My April (Biddle)........................Harold V. Milligan
Mr. Milligan at the piano
Yesterday and Today (Rogers)...................  Charles	G. Spross
Lindy (Martens).................................Charles G. Spross
The Awakening (Stratford).......................Charles G, Spross
Accompanied by The Duo-Art Piano (Mme. Godillot was the artist who sang these songs at the time Mr. Spross recorded them for the Duo-Art)
Autumn Winds So Wistful (Gena Branscombe).... Gena Branscombe
In Granada (Sara E. Branscombe).................Gena Branscombe
The Morning Wind (Banning)......................Gena Branscombe
Mme. Branscombe at the piano
Mexican Folk Song.......Arranged and translated by Frank La Forge
Like the Rose Bud (Bard)........................   Frank	La Forge
How Much I Love You (Boegner)....................  Frank	La Forge
Frank La Forge at the piano
From large halls Mr. Regneas reverted to his spacious studio for the two closing performances of his Music Week schedule. Gertrude Levy, mezzo-soprano, gave a recital May 3, and Gitla Erstinn,,coloratura, one on May 5. Miss Levy disclosed a luscious voice, well handled, and was especially effective in the six Dvorak Gypsy Songs, the dramatic nature of which suit the singer's voice and temperament. Gitla Erstinn, who on Tuesday evening at Town Hall had created a furore in a group of four songs by Spross, showed a rare sympathy for Lieder in her recital of May 5. Seldom does one hear a voice so adapted for fioratura, and to Lieder, which were sung with warmth and understanding. Miss Erstinn has reached a high plane of art and her singing delighted a most exacting audience. It is a genuine pleasure to mark the steady growth of this young lady from Virginia, and it is safe to say that she bids fair to bring much honor to her State and country. At both recitals Blanche Barbot was at the piano.
Mr. Regneas, after the concert at Town Hall, was emphatic in making it understood that he desired to show no partiality in the selection of the composers or publishers: that the time to prepare the various programs, after the request from the music committee came, was short; that many of his singers were in various parts of the country, filling engagements together;. that his days are so wholly occupied in his studio teaching, and all this helped influence the selections as made.
Mr. Regneas expressed himself as extremely grateful to the managements of the halls, the publishers and the piano
May 10, 192 3
REGNEAS CONTRIBUTES
MUCH TO MUSIC WEEK
It would be necessary to increase the size of this edition many times to chronicle the musical happenings in Greater New York during Music Week of April 30 to May 5, inclusive. Worthy of special mention, however, were the contributions of Joseph Regneas, vocal instructor and coach, which were of great magnitude, importance and excellence, and included a feature never before presented with such convincing effect and which no doubt will resolve into an annual, if not semi-annual or quarterly repetition, and eventually be taken up by wide-awake instructors. All of the singers who took part in this week of music arranged by Mr. Regneas are studying or have studied with him. The week began with a celebration of Music Week by the Musicians’ Club of New York, and Mr. and Mrs. Regneas placed their handsome residence, which contains most attractive and practical studios, at the disposal of th¿ club, whose membership was well represented.
The guests, among whom were many of the most prominent in our social and artistic life, enjoyed a beautiful pro-
gram of vocal and instrumental numbers. The participating artists were Gitla Erstinn, coloratura soprano; Mildred Graham, soprano; Nevada Van der Veer, contralto; Francis Moore, pianist, and Cornelius Van Vliet, cellist. Blanche Barbot played the accompaniments. The guests of honor were Mrs. Edward MacDowell, Albert Stoessel (conductor of the New York Oratorio Society), Cornelius Van Vliet and the Solo Vocal Committee of the Greater New York contests, viz : Yeatman Griffith, Francis Rogers, Joseph Regneas, Percy Rector Stevens, Herbert Witherspoon. T. Fletcher Shera was the jovial chairman, of the afternoon, who bade the guests be merry around the refreshment tables. All present must have felt that Music Week for the club had begun with the good fellowship of the club and its guests, and the cordial hospitality of the host and hostess.
On Monday, April 30, a record audience gathered at the Y. W. C. A., at 53rd street and Lexington avenue, attracted by_ the announcement that Nevada Van der Veer and Reed Miller would give a joint recital, Andrea Sarto substituting on short notice for Reed Miller. He gave good account of himself in songs and the familiar Pagliacci prologue, while Mme. Van der Veer poured out as great a wealth and beauty of tone that it has been the writer’s privilege to hear. The voice of this American contralto has been compared to a cello, an organ, a violin; in fact everything that is beautiful is mirrored in that voice, and every emotion is portrayed with consummate artistry. Her command of her beautiful voice is complete and her English diction is splendid. Mr. Regneas pronounces Mme. Van der Veer the greatest contralto before the public.
This was followed by two unique concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday at Town Hall and Aeolian Hall, when sixteen splendid American singers, and fourteen prominent and successful American composers appeared to play the accompaniments to their own songs, and presented representative songs from fourteen of our prominent publishing houses who had their representatives present to see the effect of this■ unusual undertaking. There was the greatest enthusiasm displayed by all concerned, and Mr. Regneas will present similar programs throughout the year at these halls, with the splendid array of excellent singers always enrolled at its studio.
The halls were well filled with representative musicians, and the many friends of the singers and composers gathered in large numbers and applauded their favorite artist or song to the echo. _ A detailed review of the concert on May 1 will appear in a later edition. The singers who appeared were: Everett Clark, Rosalie Erck, Gitla Erstinn, Mildred Graham, Marguerite Hazzard, Janette Levine, Gertrude Levy, Louise Mertens, Gertrude ■Nicholas, Frieda Rochen, Andrea Sarto, Emma Bret Selleck, Anita Self, Mildred Stark, and Mildred Stilwell. The composers represented were Ernest R. Ball, Gena Branscomb, ׳ Harry T. Burleigh, Clarence Dickinson, W. H. Humiston, Henry H. Huss, Frank La Forge, Edward MacDowell, Harold Vincent Milligan, Florence Turner Maley, Francis Moore, Winter Watts, Arthur Penn, Oley Speaks and Charles Gilbert Spross.
The May 2 audience at Aeolian Hall was afforded an opportunity of hearing—many for the first time—a rarely beautiful singer, Alice Godillot, mezzo-soprano. The Aeolian Company joined with Mr. Regneas in presenting this delightful program, and numbers played b ythe Duo-Art added much interest. The delightful singer of American songs enthused all present, and the composers themselves must have felt gratified to have their numbers so