A Rubinstein museum is to be opened in the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
New York teachers are receiving pupils from Cuba, Porto Rico, and Hawaii.
Jean de Reszke sang in New York last month. Critics say he was never in better voice.
Maud Powell, the violiniste, is again in this country after a three years’ absence abroad.
Jenny Lind’s letters to a friend, from 1854 to 1874, will soon be published by an Italian firm.
Arditi, the veteran conductor, now seventy-eight years of age, has recovered from his late illness.
Birmingham, England, has an Amateur Orchestral Society with an unbroken career of nearly forty years.
Godowsky, after winning laurels abroad for his incomparable technic, is back to the United States for a tour.
The American piano of the more popular grade is finding a readier sale in Europe and Australia than heretofore.
Siegfried Wagner’s new opera, “Herzog Wildfang,” based on an old German legend, is to be given in Munich this month.
Alwin Schroeder, first ‘cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been playing in public for more than twenty-five years.
A new symphony by Siegmund von Hausegger, of Munich, was recently produced in Berlin. It required nearly an hour for playing.
The late Sir Arthur Sullivan left an estate of about $250,000. A number of original scores were bequeathed to musical institutions.
The Bohemian composer, Fiebich, who died recently, is said to have collected and written valuable material for a “History of the Overture.”
Denver is to have a symphony orchestra directed by Mr. Henry Houseley. A guarantee fund has been raised. There will be six concerts this season.
Alexandre Guilmant, the famous organist and composer, has become president of the Schola Cantorum, in Paris, a school for the study of sacred music.
Jean de Reszke is said to be several times a millionaire. The de Reszke brothers can drive five miles through their own possessions on a straight road.
A Bach festival is to be held in Berlin in March. Joachim will be in charge. In connection with the festival will be an exhibition of Bach autographs and relics.
The Paris Grand Opera gives one hundred and ninety performances a year, four of them free. The government contributes $160,000 a year to the expenses.
A three-manual harpsichord, built in 1703 by Cristofori, is to be added to the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments in the Museum of the University of Michigan.
The music-publishing firm, C. F. Peters, of Leipzig, Germany, whose name is so well known from the cheap edition of classics, celebrated its centenary jubilee recently.
A young Russian pianist of the name of Arthur Rubinstein, but not a relative of Anton Rubinstein, has won from Berlin critics the prophecy that he will honor the name.
An English paper says that a movement is on foot among eminent musicians to collect funds for a statue of the late Sir Arthur Sullivan to be placed in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Mr. Auguste Wiegand, organist of the great organ
in the Sydney, New South Wales, Town Hall, has left
Australia and returned to Europe. His successor has not yet been appointed.
Omaha, Neb., is to have a new auditorium that will cost over $200,000 and seat 10,000 persons. Omaha is a city of progress and is certain to become one of the musical centers of the West.
Mr. Andre Messager, who succeeds Mr. Grau as manager of the opera at Covent Garden, London, was a pupil of Saint-Saëns, and is the husband of Hope Temple, the well-known song-writer.
The Conservatory at Moscow, Russia, has been presented with a magnificent new organ. It will be placed in the new concert-hall attached to the conservatory, which will seat 2500 people.
Music received a prominent place in the ceremonies attendant upon the federation of the Australian colonies. Symphony, choral, and ballad concerts were given, and military bands were in evidence.
A New York cigar manufacturer has added a piano to his equipment. It is claimed that, after several weeks’ trial, there was a noticeable increase in the output. Only lively, stirring music is played.
A practical piano-tuner says that in a house heated by a furnace, or in a room with a stove or steam heat, the piano should be placed against an outside wall in winter and an inside wall in summer.
Mr. C. Villiers Stanford, a leading English composer and Professor of Music at Cambridge University, has been chosen conductor of the Leeds Musical Festival Association, to succeed the late Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Prof. Edward MacDowell has been invited to play a concerto and conduct an orchestral work of his own at a Philharmonic Concert in London, and to write a choral work for one of the English festival associations.
A New York trade paper says that a noted collector has offered a well-known firm of piano-makers $5000 for an upright, in Chippendale style, to be made and decorated according to a design made by a distinguished artist.
A member of Congress has proposed a bill to establish under government control a music school of four divisions: a Pacific division, San Francisco; a Western, Chicago; a Southern, Washington; an Eastern, New York.
French pianos for the general trade are usually much smaller than the American make. A leading Paris firm advertises a popular style that is 3 feet 8 inches high, 4 feet 5 inches wide, 1 foot 9 inches deep. Of course, the tone is small.
All the seats for the first cycle of the Nibelungen Ring, at Bayreuth, next year, have been disposed of, although the performances will not take place until the latter part of July, and the allotment of seats will not be made until March.
Mr. Franklin Peterson has been elected Professor of Music in Melbourne University, Australia. This is the highest salaried position of the kind, being worth between $4000 and $5000 a year. Mr. Peterson formerly resided in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A number of wealthy New York men and women have planned a movement to provide good music at low prices under the title of People’s Symphony Concerts, the prices for tickets ranging from five to fifty cents. The hall of the Cooper Institute is to be used.
Dr. William Pole, a well-known English musician, died December 30, 1900. Dr. Pole is best known to American musicians by his valuable book: “The Philosophy of Music.” Like the late Sir George Grove, he was educated as a civil engineer and held some high appointments in the government service.
At a recent sale of violins in London some instruments by famous makers were sold: A Guadagnini violin brought $725; a ‘cello by Gagliano, $200; a copy of a Strad violin by Vuillaume, formerly the property of Ole Bull, $200; a Stainer, $100; another Gaudagnini, $775; a genuine Vuillaume, $165.
Instrumentalists should be careful of their hands is a lesson that has often been poorly learned. Mr. Theodore Spiering, leader of the Spiering Quartet, of Chicago, while on a hunting trip, injured one of his hands. Willy Burmester met with an accident recently in Hungary which resulted in a badly-sprained wrist.
A scientific society of Russia is making an effort to preserve the national folk-songs. A commission is sent to all the great fairs and other popular gatherings, to note down the words and melodies that may be sung at such celebrations. Upward of a hundred old songs were recently added to the collection already gathered.
