50
MUSICAL
FOREIGN NEWS IN BRIEF
May 10, 1923
concerts were given before packed halls— the first one in the large concert hall, the second in the chamber music hall. PoJk will return here after, his visit to Paris.
H. M.
Goethe Opera Fails in Leipsic.
Leipsic, March 28.—The first performance of Goethe’s comedy Die Mitschuldigen, as an opera composed by Mary Wurm, has just been given in the Leipsic Staat Theater. Although Goethe’s text offers much oppor-tunity to a composer, they were, unfortunately, not taken advantage of in this instance, with the result that the work of Germany’s greatest poet was jeered by the audience. In justice to Mary Wurm, however, it must be said that the rejection was due, in a measure, to the poor performance which was beneath all criticism. Dr. A.
Rudolph Polk Impresses Hamburg.
In his second concert, Rudolph Polk, the rising American violinist, scored another success. Of all the foreign artists who have appeared here recently, he is undoubtedly the most promising. .	A. S.
Austro-German Relief Fund List Increases.
Berlin, March 28.—Prof. Wilhelm Klatte, chairman of the distributing committee of the Austro-German Musicians’ Relief Fund, announces the following additions to the German committee: Dr. Karl Muck, Hamburg; Wilhelm Kes, Coblenz, and Ferdinand Loewe, Vienna.	A. Q..
Grandniece of Schubert a Concert Singer.
Vienna, March 26.—Fernanda Schubert, a grandniece of Franz Schubert, made her debut as a concert singer here last night with a song recital composed entirely of Schubert songs.	P. B.
New Giovanetti Opera.
Rome, March 26.—Petronio, a new opera by Giovanetti, won a success d’estime at Costanzi. The composer hails from Lucca. His compatriots are said to have raised a fund of 150,000 lire in order to have Mnje. Carelli give the opera at the Costanzi. The music seems unoriginal with reminiscences— specially of Puccini—all too frequent. S.
First Opera in Wales.
Cardiff, March 26.—From April 9 to 14 the British National Opera Company has arranged a Grand Opera Festival at the Empire Thearter, Cardiff. This is the first visit of this company to Wales and every effort is being made to make the week a success.
O. P. J.
COURIER
and the Intermezzo from Delius’ Village Romeo and Juliet; the soloist, Dame Clara Butt, included Beethoven’s Creation’s Hymn. The audience was large and enthusiastic.
G. C.
Hamburg Hears Premiere of Opera Judith.
Hamburg, March 31.—The first performance of the opera Judith, music by Max Et-tinger to the text of Friederich Hebbel, had a great popular success. Musicians and critics, however, were not so strongly impressed by the work. Ettinger seeks to follow the text in its archaic style but had little success owing to his too modest technic and rather primitive equipment. The work, which was ably conducted by Werner Wolff, will most likely disappear from the repertory after a few more performances.
A. S.
Queen Marie of Roumania Writes Libretto.
Berlin, April 3.—Queen Marie has just finished a libretto for a romantic operetta on a Roumanian subject. The book, for which a title has not yet been decided upon, has been given to Oskar Nedbal, the Czech composer, for a musical setting. A. Q.
Furtwängler Again Sought for Staats-oper Concerts.
Berlin, March 31.—Since Prof. Hermann Abendroth, who temporarily succeeded Furtwängler as conductor of the Staatsoper orchestra concerts, has failed to win the favor of the Berlin critics, the Minister of Culture has made an effort to acquire Furtwängler again. Since he is already under a five-year contract with both the Leipsic Gewandhaus and the Berlin Philharmonic orchestras and since public opinion is against his holding two such important positions at the same time in Berlin, the question of who will become conductor of the Staatsoper concerts is still unsolved. C. S.
Rudolph Polk Pleases Breslau.
Breslau, March 27.—Among the American artists who visited Breslau after their successful concerts at Berlin, Rudolf Polk, the excellent violinist, has made the biggest hit here. He gave two concerts, the first one with the Breslau Orchester-Verein, Dr. Georg Dohrn conducting, and the second with Waldemar Liachowsky as piano partner. The programs have been varied and apt to show the finished technic of the artist, who is the best pupil of Henri Mar-teau and his versatility as interpreter of the classics as well as the modern school. Both
Strictly speaking, the new work is not a concerto in the traditional sense of the word but rather an orchestral fantasy with piano. The piano has a great deal to say, however, especially when a pianistic genius of Giese-king’s rank is the medium through which it speaks. The ensemble of orchestra and soloist was glorious. The second movement in slow tempo and the preceding scherzo met with immediate response¡ while the first and last movements (especially the first) are true samples of Pfitzner’s own innermost personality resembling, in this respect, his Romantic Cantata and Palestrina by their depth and sombre mood and the length to which they are drawn out. The contrapuntal skill revealed in the final movement will delight a connoisseur. Both Gieseking and Busch were tendered an ovation at the close of the performance.	A. I.
Unaccompanied Choral Singing Festival in London.
London, April 10.—The first public performance of a new unaccompanied Mass in G minor by Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams was given at the Queen’s Hall last week by an enterprising north-country choir from Wolverhampton. The Mass is on the lines of early English church music and is a revelation of sheer beauty. Another large scale unaccompanied choral work by Granville Bantock was a masterpiece of intricacies¡ adequately overcome. Throughout, the choir sang with rare assurance and skill, the tone and attack were uniformly good, and reflected great praise on their conductor, Joseph Lewis. Ursula Greville, newly returned from America, sang the soprano solos in the Mass and other new works by Vaughan Williams, Maurice Besly, and others, with her customary finish and artistry.	G. C.
Sir Thomas Beecham Returns to London After Three Years.
London, April 9.—After an absence of over three years, Sir Thomas Beecham conducted yesterday the combined forces of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. Under his very able guidance the two orchestras became one perfectly blended whole; as ever, Sir Thomas’ readings were glowing, polished, articulate and entirely successful. The program included Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben
Wiesbaden Theater Destroyed by Fire.
Berlin, March 10.—The Wiesbaden State Theater, formerly supported by the Kaiser, and one of the finest in Germany, burned to the ground within an hour last night. About fifteen minutes after the conclusion of a performance of Rienzi fire broke out, preceded by a loud explosion the cause of which is supposed to have been a short circuit. About twenty minutes after the fire started the dome of the theater crashed down through the auditorium. Citizens assisted the firemen in trying to save some of the properties but with no success. Assistance from Mainz could not be had owing to the telephone and telegraph service having been suspended by the French. The theater was opened in 1894 and had a seating capacity of about fourteen hundred.	A. Q.
Revelry in the Sacred Precincts of the Law.
London, March 18.—The Hall of the Inner Temple, the seventeeth century banqueting hall of innumerable London lawyers, was the scene of a revival last week by the Arne Society, after nearly a hundred years, of Dr. Arne’s music to Milton’s Masque oi Comus. The performance was admirably suited to the wonderful old hall and was entirely successful.	G. C.
Anton Bennewitz Celebrates Ninetieth Birthday.
Prague, March 26.—Anton Bennewitz, nestor of the violin world, is ninety years old today. He began teaching in the Prague Conservatory in 1866, and in 1882 was made director of the institution which position he held until 1902 when he retired. He numbered among his many pupils some of the most famous violinists in the world, including Franz Ondricek, Oskar Nedbal and Ottakar Sevcik. The latter dedicated his famous work on violin technic to his master, Bennewitz.	M. U.
Dresden Hears Pfitzner’s New Concerto.
Dresden, March 22.—The first performance anywhere of Hans Pfitzner’s new piano concerto in E flat major, op. 31, has taken place here with Walter Gieseking as soloist under the inspired direction of Fritz Busch, to whom the work is dedicated. Gieseking gave the piece a marvelously subjective reading, and a ׳finer revelation of the composer’s intentions can hardly be imagined.
Lovettes in Unique Program
Eva Whitford Lovette, mezzo-soprano and vocal teacher, and T. S. Lovette, Welsh pianist and pedagogue, assisted by artist-students and the Lovette Choral Club, gave a unique program at the Sixteenth Baptist Church recently, before a large and appreciative audience. It was unique in the fact that two artist-teachers appeared on the same program with their pupils. Mr. Lovette opened the program with a brilliant performance of the Vivaldi concerto, which, to quote from the Washington Evening Star, “he played with great color and sparkling technic. The audience demanding more, he gave a charming rendition of the Chopin prelude in D flat major with a delightful singing tone and artistic finish.” Mrs. Lovette’s three groups included works by Pergolesi¡ Tschaikowsky, Brahms, Minetti, William Stickles, David Guion and a group of Lovette compositions. To quote again from the Star: “Mrs. Lovette is distinctly dramatic, but versatile, and a great charm of her singing is her splendid enunciation and diction in whatever language she is singing. The Close of Day, one of her husband’s compositions, was especially effective, a monologue, in which the varying tone color made the song.” Gladys Hillyer played Saint-Saëns’ Etude en Forme de Valse, with especially skillful fingers, and Mary Ruth Matthews gave an excellent performance of Liszt’s Fifteenth Rhapsody. A delightful feature of the program was the excellent little chorus of young women who sang under Dr. Lovette’s direction, “with precision, fine shading and perfect enunciation, the audience losing not a word of their songs. Zelma Brown played delightful accompaniments.”	D. G.
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The University of Michigan concert band of fifty-six pieces was heard in the Armory on April 11.
John S. Matthews’ cantata, The Way, The Truth, and The. Life¡ was given in Grace Episcopal Church, the soloists being Eric Oscar Teng, tenor; Griffith Owen, baritone; Mrs. M. Merton Lovelace, soprano, and Mrs. L. A. Stebbins, contralto.
The South German Male Chorus of twelve voices, Heinz Froehlich, director, returned to give a second concert in the St. Cecilia.
The Welsh Dinevor Singers gave a program in Trinity Community Church, April 5. The soloists were Jeannette Christine, soprano, and Gwilym Jones, baritone.
The Grand Rapids Orchestral Association has just been formed for the purpose of bringing available orchestras to the city next winter. The first concert, to be given by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, will take place on October 25, and the second, by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, on November 28. Others to appear will be the Minneapolis and Eastern orchestras, which may be en tour in this vicinity. All of the prominent musical interests of the city are co-operating, the officers of the new organization being Benjamin P. Merrick, president; Mrs. H. Monroe Dunham, president of the Mary Free Bed Guild, vice-president; Clay H. Hollister, treasurer; Morris J. White, president of the Master Artists’ Course, secretary and manager, and John W. Beattie, head of the Public School Music Department; R. C. Butterfield, president of the Schubert Club; J. Francis Campbell, its conductor, and Mrs. F. Dunbar Robertson, president of the St. Cecilia Society, directors. H. B. R.
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GRAND RAPIDS NOTES
Frances Morton Crume presented Pearl Moran, contralto, in recital in the St. Cecilia Building, on April 5. Miss Moran, who has just returned from a two years’ concert tour, has a lovely voice and sang her difficult program with ease and musical understanding. She was assisted by Charlotte Coats, pianist.
Reese Veatch, baritone, gave an enjoyable program of modern French songs before the Alliance Française of Grand Rapids, April 13. He was assisted by Mrs. John S. Morton, who gave a short talk in French about the composers and poets featured.
At_ St. Mark’s Pro-Cathedral was performed, on April 1, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, the solo parts being sung by Mrs. J. A. Michaelson, soprano ; Mrs. Loren J. Staples, contralto ; Andrew Sessink, tenor, and Abram Hazenburg,, bass.
The Grand Rapids League Glee Club gave a concert in Central High School auditorium. Beside chorus and quartet numbers two baritone solos were sung by Reese Veatch, who directs the organization, and several violin numbers were played by Arthur Ritzema. Helen Baker Rowe accompanied Mr. Veatch, and Robert Ritzema accompanied the violin and chorus numbers.
The Calvin College Glee Club, led by Mr. Veatch, gave a concert on April 5 in Central High School auditorium. A feature of the program was a group of Dutch songs sung by the club. Hila Vandenbosch was the accompanist. The Glee Club recently returned from concerts given in Chicago, Englewood and Roseland, 111.
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