It is
reported that Chaminade may visit the United States this season.
Eduard Strauss and
his orchestra will be in New York early this month.
Mascagni has a new opera, for which he also wrote the
libretto, in the hands of a publisher.
Max Bruch has
been appointed Professor of Composition in the Royal High School of Music, Berlin.
The musical
season of 1900-01 promises concert tours by some thirty pianists, foreign and
American.
It is
announced that the Musical Review is to be revived by the Clayton F.
Summy Company, of Chicago.
Chickering Hall has
passed into the hands of Morris Steinert, who will make it the headquarters of
the “Steinertone.”
A monument
to Stephen C. Foster, composer of “Suwanee River” and “Old Kentucky
Home,” has been erected in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mozart was
passionately fond of billiards, but played poorly. He would stay at a game a
whole night and played for high stakes.
The Rubinstein
composition prize of $1500 went to Alexander Goedicke, of Moscow, while the
piano playing prize went to Emil Bosquet, of Brussels.
The new
hall in which the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will be given will
be called Symphony Hall. It is on Huntington Avenue.
A series
of concerts for the poor residents of Glasgow, Liverpool, and other
English cities was arranged by local musicians. They proved very popular.
There is still
living in Vienna an old lady in her ninety-first year who sang in the chorus at
the first performance of Beethoven’s “Choral Symphony.”
Lady Halle, better
known to many as Madam Norman Neruda, the celebrated violinist, has located in
Berlin, and will teach in one of the conservatories.
The salaries
of opera singers is lower in France than in other European countries. The
leading dramatic soprano at the Opera Comique was paid $400 a month.
The Yale
University Corporation has voted to assume the financial responsibility for the
New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Prof. Horatio W. Parker will conduct the
orchestra.
A permanent
orchestra is being arranged for New Orleans. Two subscription concerts
are to be given each week and a popular concert on Sundays. A guarantee fund is
being raised.
Mr. H. S. Saroni, of Marietta, O., died recently. He was a native of Germany, but
had lived in this country for many years. He translated Marx’s books on the
theory of music into English.
Maud Powell, during
her trip abroad, confirmed her American reputation as one of the foremost women
players of the violin. She will give a number of concerts in the United States
this season.
Manchester, N. H.,
will have a music festival, October 11th to 13th. There will be a chorus of
300, assisted by prominent soloists. Mr. Henry G. Blaisdell and Mr. William R. Chapman will
have charge.
An organist
recently died in Sweden who had held the position as choir-master in one church
for seventy-wo years without missing a service. He and his ancestors had
played in the church for two hundred years.
Paris and
France together produce about 15,000 pianos a year; Germany makes about 60,000;
the United States has an annual output of over 150,000, two firms in Chicago
alone making more pianos than all France.
Madame Patti is
said to hold the record for the largest sum earned in a year by a woman,
$350,000. Her present London concert terms are reported as $2000 a night. A
single performance at Buenos Ayres brought her $11,000.
Mr. Claus
Spreckels, the sugar magnate of California, has presented to the authorities
of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, a music stand for public concerts, which is
said to be the handsomest in the world. It is valued at $100,000.
A covering
for the piano keyboard is suggested by a correspondent. A narrow piece
of silk, of color to blend with the other draperies of the room is used. This
may be embroidered and some appropriate sentiment about music added.
The Sing
Akademie of Berlin was founded in 1792 by Karl Fasch. He was an eminent
theorist. Just before his death he ordered all his compositions destroyed
except one,—a self-criticism not likely to be followed by other composers.
Alberto
Randegger, the famous London singing teacher, has written to his pupil, Mrs.
Osgood-Dexter, of Philadelphia, that he hopes to arrange for a lecture tour of
the United States. His many American pupils will be glad to learn of this.
An English
firm has patented and begun the manufacture of an aluminum sound-board for
pianos. Experimenters differ in their opinion as to the practical results. At
present aluminum is said to be too expensive to come into general use for the
purpose.
The Women’s
String Orchestra, of New York City, Carl V. Lachmund, director, enters upon its
fifth season. There are now forty members, only professionals being eligible. A
special feature is made of educational programs for schools and musical clubs.
A statue
of Beethoven has just been erected in the Valley of Bade, near Vienna,
where the composer did a great deal of his work during the summer. A gentleman
was present at the unveiling ceremony who, when a boy of ten, was presented to
the composer.
While Richard
Wagner was never wealthy, his heirs are in the enjoyment of a splendid income.
One of the German opera establishments pays an annual royalty of $3000; Munich
paid to Wagner and his estate $117,000. Other cities also pay handsome royalties.
Ivory is
growing scarcer every year, and the English and German authorities in South
Africa are taking steps to preserve the elephant from extinction. It is said
that the largest pair of tusks ever found were secured last year. They weighed
239 and 224 pounds.
Richter, the
veteran conductor, is to direct the performance of “Parsifal” at Bayreuth, in
1901. Strange to say, although the great conductor has popularized portions of
the opera in an orchestral form, he has not yet conducted a complete performance
of the work.
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art of New York City contains a magnificent collection of rare
musical instruments gathered from all parts of the globe. One of the most noted
instruments is a piano by Cristofori. The collection consists of about 2000
instruments. It is the gift of Mrs. John Crosby Brown.
The Czar
of Russia sent to the Paris Exposition, at his own expense, a number of
musicians from the Grand Russian Orchestra, who use instruments constructed on
the model of ancient Russian instruments, none of them figuring in our modern
orchestra. They are called balalaikistes, from the balalaika, a national
instrument.
In reference
to the recent performance of “Löhengrin,” in Berlin, to commemorate the fiftieth
anniversary of the first production of “Löhengrin,” it is said that Wagner did
not think very much of his work, and called it a “Jugendsünde” (a youthful
indiscretion), offering it to Breitkopf and Hartel to cancel a debt of 200
thalers.
The National
Conservatory of Music, New York City, offers a series of prizes to composers:
For the
best symphony, $300; for the best overture, $200; and for the best
violin or piano concerto, $200. The composer must be a native of the United
States and not over forty years of age. Each work must be in manuscript, and
absolutely new to the public. The competition will be open until January 15,
1901.
Quite a
large number of the prominent artists in the company to furnish grand opera in
English that will be heard in New York and a few other cities this season are
native-born Americans. The chorus will be almost exclusively American, and
should prove a useful factor in developing opera singers. Is it not better to
hear three operas in English for the same price one would pay to hear one opera
in German or Italian?
The inventory
of Brahms’s effects shows that he left about $80,000 in the bank. Among other
effects were a number of drawings, water-colors, and modern engravings,
honorary medals; a library of 488 volumes, mostly on music; letters from
contemporary composers and virtuosi, and upward of 200 musical autographs of
great value, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Weber, Chopin, and
Wagner being represented.
J. S. Bach’s mortal remains have been removed to a crypt of the Church
of St. John, which is lit by electricity, so that the magnificent stone
sarcophagus, as well as its inscription, are plainly visible. Before the high
altar a large bronze plate bearing the name of Bach, with the dates of his
birth and death, has been inserted between the flagstones. The committee formed
for the erection of a statue to the great composer has resumed its labors.
St. Louis is to have a grand music festival, November 5th to 13th.
Nordica, Gadski, Blauvelt, and William H. Sherwood, with other well-known
artists, have been engaged. The enterprise is in the hands of leading business
men, who have guaranteed the financial success. An orchestra of 100 men has
been engaged and a chorus of 500 voices is rehearsing for the festival. They
will be under the direction of Mr. E. R. Kroeger and Mr. A. E. Pommer. The
concerts will be given in the Coliseum, which has been remodeled to suit the
demands of the concerts.
Franz Betz, whose death has just
occurred, was one of the idols of German opera goers. At the time when his
voice was in its prime he was a contemporary of Lucca, Niemann, Fricke,—names
which the German musicians look upon as belonging to the “classical period” of
the Berlin opera. He is best known as the creator of the role of Hans Sachs,
upon which all later impersonations have been modeled. In 1876 he appeared as
Wotan in the first performance of the Bayreuth Festival. He was a master of bel
canto; his voice was very beautiful, his enunciation faultless. As an actor
he was especially successful.
