[All matter intended for this Department should be addressed to Mrs. Helen D. Tretbar, Box 2920, New York City.]
The Ohio M. T. A. met at Cincinnati on July 1st, 2d and 3d.
Remenzi, the violinist, will revisit this country next fall, after an absence of ten years.
Mme. Albani will make a tour of the United States and Canada after the Italian opera season, next winter.
Constantin Sternberg, has been delivering annual lectures and giving piano recitals at Chautauqua this season.
The 6th annual examination, 1892, by the American College of Musicians was held at the University of New York June 23d-27th.
Mme. Ritter-Goetz returned from a short visit to Europe to take part in the Newark and Milwaukee music festivals during July.
Agnes Huntington will return to this country for a short season of twelve weeks, next winter, as her London Theatre will not be ready before next March.
The New England Conservatory, at Boston, held its commencement. Last year’s pupils, 1800 in number hailed from 21 states and one foreign country, India.
The Madison Square Garden, season of farewell concerts by Theodore Thomas and his Orchestra began on Monday, July 6th, and will last until August 15th.
Mr. Gustav Hinrich’s new American Opera Company is meeting with much success in Philadelphia. It is now in its 2d month and recently produced Gounod’s “Murilla” for the first time in that city.
Dr. Frederick Louis Ritter, died suddenly, at Antwerp, Belgium, July 6th. He has been the director of music at Vassar College since 1867 and is well known as a composer and the author of several historical works on music.
The Indiana, M. T. A. held its fourteenth annual session at Muncie, the third week in June. Among the essays was that of Prof. John Towers: “Some Good and Bad Musical Methods.” Mr. Hyllested and Mme. Bloomfield played.
The 3d biennial meeting of the Illinois M. T. A. was held at Jacksonville, June 30, July 1st and 2d. Among the essayists were O. Blackman, S. L. Fish, Fred. W. Root, Mrs. S. Robinson Duff and Annie Morgan. The pianists participating included Mme. F. Bloomfield-Zeisler, Gussie Cottlow, Adele Lewing and August Hyllested.
The American Composers’ Choral Association offers two yearly prizes, in the form of two gold medals, the first of the value of $100, for the best cantata with accompaniment; the second of the value of $50, for the best part-song. Compositions (anonymous) with a motto, and a sealed envelope with composers’ name may be sent to the President, Mr. Charles B. Hawley, Metropolitan College of Music N. Y.
The Michigan M. T. A.’s fifth annual meeting took place at Grand Rapids, June 30th, July 1st and 2d under the direction of President J. H. Hahn of Detroit. Essays were read by M. W. Chase (“Some Needed Reforms”), J. W. Oliver (“Some Thoughts on Teaching”), O. W. Pierce (“A Broad General Education for Musicians”), L. W. Mason, of Boston, Mass. (“Music in the Public Schools”), and N. J. Corey (“Wagner’s Debt to the Greek Drama”). W. H. Sherwood was one of the many pianists heard, and the American composers represented in the music of the three days were numerous. Among the organists were: A. A. Stanley, Ann Arbor; C. N. Colwell, Grand Rapids; F. L. York, Detroit, and F. G. Rohner, Kalamazoo. Vocalists were also numerous.
FOREIGN.
Joachim was sixty years old on June 28th.
Clementine De Vere, sang in the Richter concert, London, July 6th.
Tschaikowski will bring over a Russian choir when he returns to America next fall.
The new Richard Wagner Society at Milan numbers 150 members, while one in Turin has 540 members.
Masseret (sic?) has been requested to write an opera based on Scott’s Kenilworth, for the next Covent Garden season.
The time of the first “Lohengrin” performance at the Paris Grand Opera has finally been decided upon. It will take place next September.
Mr. F. X. Arens, of Cleveland, has given another concert devoted to American compositions abroad, this time at Sondershausen, Germany.
Madam Carréno has played in 120 concerts during the past season, appearing in Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. She will spend the summer in Paris.
Miss Leonora Stosch, a new violinist, will visit America next winter. She has been studying at the Brussels Conservatory, and Marsick predicts a brilliant career for her.
Madam De Pachmann played Chopin’s E minor concerto at the London Philharmonic concert on June 27th, and Miss Zelie De Lussan sang with Mr. Barton McGuckin in a duet from “Thorgrim” by Cowen.
Paderewski, the brilliant pianist, who will be heard in America next winter, was born in Russian, Poland, in 1860. His chief teachers have been Leschetizky, Mme. Essipoff’s husband, and Frederick Kiel, the latter in composition.
The Emperor of Germany has conferred upon Rubinstein the Cross of the Order of Merit, and the Czar decorated him with the Cross of Saint Andrew on his recent retirement from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Rubinstein has definitely left the latter city.
Among the singers secured by Abbey and Grau for the season of Italian Opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, next winter, are Lili Lehmann, Scalchi, Trebelli, the Ravoglis sisters, the De Reszke brothers, Maurel the baritone, Capoul and Mme. Albani.
The Centenary of Mozart’s death was commemorated at Salzburg on July 15th-17th. His “Requiem” was performed in the cathedral. At one of the concerts Mme. Essipoff played his D minor concerto, and the opera “Figaro’s Marriage” also formed one of the features.
Ferdinand Schumann, one of Robert and Clara Schumann’s sons, died at Gera in June, aged 42 years. Besides the three daughters of this gifted pair there now remains but one older son, who has long been afflicted with an incurable brain trouble and spends his days in seclusion.
Mr. Ovide Musin is to be married in Europe this summer and will return to America in September, accompanied by his wife, Mme. Folville-Musin, who is herself a violinist, pianist, composer and orchestral conductor. The lady comes highly recommended by Massenet, Godard and Lassen, and will be one of the members of the next season’s Musin Concert Company. This troupe will sail for Australia in May, 1892. Mme. Musin will make her American début in Brooklyn, playing her own compositions on piano and violin and conducting an original symphony.
