During the year 1898, 181 new operas were presented in Europe.
Several American musicians are employed as teachers in German conservatories.
Mr. Emil Paur has appeared lately as a solo pianist in connection with his orchestra.
George Henschel’s opera, “Nubra,” has been accepted for presentation at Dresden next season.
Teresa Carreño sailed for Europe on the 16th of May. Her American tour was very successful.
It is reported that Leoncavallo is studying “Quo Vadis” with a view of making a dramatic version, to which he will supply music.
Theodore Thomas’ Chicago Orchestra had a successful tour in the South; four concerts were given in Atlanta and three in Nashville.
Miss Eleanore Broadfoot, an American contralto, has been engaged for the Metropolitan Opera Company season in New York City, by Maurice Grau.
It is announced that Mr. Edgar Stillman Kelley is to write the orchestral and choral music for the stage version of “Ben Hur,” which is now being prepared.
Mr. Frederic Brandeis, the well known composer and pianist of New York City, died May 14th. Mr. Brandeis was born in Vienna in 1832, and was a pupil of Czerny.
A “Guide Through the Flute Literature” has been published in Leipsic. It records 7500 pieces for one and two flutes, with and without combination with other instruments.
Mrs. Emil Paur, wife of the director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, died April 27th. Mrs. Paur was a pianist of great ability, and was a pupil of Clara Schumann and Leschetizky.
One of our English exchanges says that Sir Arthur Sullivan is about to publish his musical reminiscences. As Sir Arthur is said to be a good story-teller, we ought to get a readable book from his pen.
About six hundred compositions were entered in the competition for prizes offered by the “Musical Record.” The judges are Professor H. W. Parker, Mr. Arthur Foote, and Mr. Reinhold Hermann.
When Rosenthal starts on his projected concert tour of the world, he is to take with him a piano, built specially for him by Steinway & Sons, that is said to be proof against all climatic conditions.
An English firm of piano-dealers has placed on the market “a patent portable piano.” The instrument weighs 140 pounds, and is intended to be placed on a table. The keyboard has a compass of five octaves.
Theodore Thomas’ musical library, so it is said, could not be duplicated for less than $200,000. It contains full scores and orchestral parts of 300 overtures, 160 symphonies, and hundreds of concertos and smaller works.
The Worcester, Mass., Festival Association has engaged Miss Evangeline Florence for the next festival. Miss Florence is an American, now resident in London, and is considered one of the foremost oratorio singers in England.
In spite of the fact that prices were doubled, the hall in which Paderewski played in London, on the 16th of May, was crowded to the utmost. Critics say he is playing better than before, and English enthusiasm is as great as in previous years.
It was remarked that in the orchestra which played at the recent Joachim celebration, and which was composed of former pupils, forty four of the violins were “Strads,” and were insured for that night for the large sum of $250,000.
The latest fad in piano decoration is said to be mirror backs. Fashion has decreed that the piano shall come away from the wall, and the back of an upright must be made much different. The mirror may be beautified with hand-painting.
Mr. Emil Paur and his Symphony Orchestra have been engaged for a series of concerts at Brighton Beach, near New York, during the approaching summer. This will help to counteract the vogue of popular two-steps and “coon songs.”
Henry Wolfsohn, the New York manager, announces that de Pachmann is to make a concert tour of the United States, beginning in October or November. He is a unique figure in the piano world, and is almost certain to make a sensation.
Mr. Allen Brown, of Boston, donor of the famous Brown Collection of Music in the Boston Public Library, will make a number of additions to the collection after his return from Europe. It is hoped to make this the most complete musical library in the world.
Mr. Frank van der Stucken, of Cincinnati, has been honored by the acceptance of the symphonic prologue of “William Radcliff,” for performance at one of the regular Berlin symphony concerts next season, Mr. Arthur Nikisch conductor. This composition will be given at the next M. T. N. A. meeting, at Cincinnati.
The Tenth Annual Meeting of the New York State Music Teachers’ Association will be held at Binghamton, N. Y., June 28th to 30th. The President of the Association is Mr. Sumner Salter; Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. F. W. Riesberg, 9 W. Sixty-fifth Street, New York City.
Fine programs of vocal and instrumental music and essays have been arranged, and a strong chorus and orchestra will assist in the concerts. Miss Evelyn Fletcher, Mr. George C. Gow, Mr. John Tagg, and Mr. Harvey Wickham are among the essayists. The New York Association is one of the most active and enterprising in the United States, and the meetings are sure to be a success.
A New York paper announces that Felix Mottl, the celebrated conductor of the court orchestra at Carlsruhe, will probably be the conductor for the Metropolitan Opera-house season in New York. His wife, who made a great success as “Elsa,” in the London representation of “Lohengrin,” is also to be engaged.
The Hampden County Musical Association held their eleventh annual festival at Springfield, Mass., May 2d to 5th. Mr. George W. Chadwick is the conductor. “Elijah” and Mr. Chadwick’s “Lily Nymph” were included among the choral work performed at the festival. Teresa Carreño was the solo pianist.
A London correspondent of “The Manufacturer,” a Philadelphia commercial paper, says that the trade in American reed-organs is steadily increasing in England, and also on the Continent. He estimates that about 10,000 reed-organs are shipped yearly to England. The American organs are said to be superior in point of sweetness of tone.
The May Festival at Louisville, Ky., was a pronounced success, both from the musical and the financial standpoint. Mme. Sembrich, who had been engaged, was not able to come, and her place was taken by Miss Brema. Mr. Carl Shackleton, the director, deserves great praise for the excellent work of the chorus and the general success of the festival.
It is announced that the money for the Wagner monument in Berlin has all been subscribed. The Emperor has directed that it be placed in the Thiergarten, where a sort of musical pantheon has been projected, to include statues of famous German musicians. Wagner’s is the first, to be followed by statues of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and others.
A way of improving new fiddles has been invented by an ingenious American, who, starting from the oft-stated principle that the more a fiddle is used the better it becomes, has constructed a machine which plays for hours at a time, according to the will of the inventor.
No need to wait for the mellowing influence of time. American enterprise scores one more hit.
Delormel, a writer of concert hall songs in Paris, died recently. He was in receipt of an income of $10,000 a year from royalties on songs used in public. This class of composition pays better than writing symphonies. And yet we have “composers” in the United States who are said to make twice and three times the amount! American publishers are more enterprising advertisers.
We regret to say that Professor A. A. Stanley, Professor of Music in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, has broken down from overwork. He will go to Southern Europe to recuperate. Professor Stanley untiring energy contributed largely to the splendid growth of the University Festival Association. For the sixth festival there was a chorus of 300 voices, assisted by the Boston Festival Orchestra. Five concerts were given in the University Hall, which has a seating capacity of 3000.
Mr. Clarence Eddy advocates a plan for an exhibition of the progress of music in America in connection with the Paris Exposition next year. It is expected that the French Government will arrange for a congress of French musicians, and, if this prove to be the fact, it is hoped to have similar congresses of other nationalities. Mr. Eddy’s scheme has the approval of United States Commissioner Peck.
The compositors on the daily papers often make sad havoc of the titles of compositions. One transformed a “Benedictus” into “Benedictine,” which was certainly not the right thing for use in a church service. Handel’s “Largo” was made “Large,” and on another occasion “Lager,” which would scarcely do for an organ recital; then a “concerto” appeared in the guise of a “concertina,” a most woeful descent in the artistic scale.
Dr. Robert Goldbeck desires to publish the names of America’s distinguished composers, performers, and teachers in that part of his “History of Music” which refers to the present period. He should receive without delay the necessary communications, accompanied by suitable qualifications, at his studio, 627 Fine Art- Building, Chicago. The “History of Music” forms part of the forthcoming “Dictionary of Harmony and Cyclopedia of Music.”
The Musical Art Society of New York City offers a prize of $250 for the best composition for mixed voices, unaccompanied. The competition is open to any one who for the past five years or more has been a resident of the United States or Canada. Compositions received up to September 1st. The judges will be Horatio W. Parker, B. J. Lang, and the conductor of the Musical Art Society. Composers may address Dr. Frederick E. Hyde, Greenwich, Conn., President of the Society. The prize is given by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Butler McCogg and will be made annual.
Mr. Clarence Eddy, in a conversation anent his recent appointment as official organist of the United States at the Paris Exposition, says that American builders have made a most valuable application of the pneumatic principle, so that there is no perceptible loss of time between the pressing of a key and the speaking of a pipe. While our organs are not equal in voicing to foreign organs, in other respects they are in advance.
The South Atlantic States Music Festival, held April 25th to 27th, under the auspices of the Converse College Choral Society, Spartanburgh, S. C., Dr. R. H. Peters, director, was an exceedingly successful one. Five concerts were given. The special attraction was Campanari, the great baritone. The Boston Festival Orchestra of forty-five men, under Emil Mollenhauer, was present. Mendelssohn’s “Hymn of Praise” and Haydn’s “Creation” were the principal choral numbers given. The festival was held in the recently erected Conservatory of Music and Auditorium, one of the finest concert halls in the South. It also contains a new $7000 pipe organ.
