Bemberg, the noted French composer, is said to be dying of consumption.
The vocal score of Paderewski’s opera, “Manru,” is to be issued soon in Berlin.
Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given organs to a number of churches in Scotland.
The Russian government is to establish a musico-historic museum in St. Petersburg.
Stockhausen, the eminent German singing teacher, lately celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday.
Jadassohn, the eminent teacher and composer, recently celebrated his seventieth birthday.
Mr. Leopold Godowsky will give some time to teaching this season. He is now living in Berlin.
A recently deceased German musician left $375,000 to charitable institutions of the city of Berlin.
A permanent orchestra has been planned for in Des Moines, Iowa, to be under the direction of Arthur Heft.
An international theater is to be established in Paris, by Leoncavallo, the composer, according to a Paris note.
The experiment of giving theatrical and operatic performances has been tried on one of the German ocean steamship lines.
Pauline Viardot-Garcia, eminent vocalist and teacher, recently completed her eightieth year. She now resides in Paris.
Madame Emma Eames will not be able to sing at the Worcester, Mass., Festival on account of a severe attack of laryngitis.
The favorite instrument in Spain is the mandora, of the guitar family. It is usually provided with six pairs of wire strings.
Madame Schumann-Heink has been engaged to sing at the next Cincinnati May Festival. Ben Davies, the Welsh tenor, is to be present.
Stavenhagen, a well-known pianist and composer, has been appointed to the presidency of the Royal Academy of Music in Munich.
The Illinois State Music Teachers’ Association is considering the advisability of changing the time of meeting to the Christmas holidays.
Inspired by “Quo Vadis,” an Italian musician has written a symphonic poem in four movements: Lydia, Orgy, Burning of Rome, and Death of Nero.
Watkin Mills, a popular English basso, will make a concert-tour in this country next spring. He has been engaged for a number of spring festivals.
The Philharmonic Society of Laybach, which was founded in 1702, will celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of its existence by a great musical festival.
The Conservatory of Dresden, during the last school-year, had 1286 pupils, 46 coming from the United States. There were eight female to every five male pupils.
A porcelain manufacturer of Saxony has perfected a process by which he can make mandolins and violins of porcelain. The instruments are said to have a clear, sweet tone.
By a unanimous vote of the Chapter, the position of organist to the Cathedral of Wurzburg was given to a woman. This is said to be the first instance of the kind in Germany.
A zither has been invented with a keyboard arranged as the keyboard in a piano or organ. It is claimed that one familiar with a piano-keyboard can soon master this zither.
At the annual competitions of the Vienna Conservatory one pupil, Bruno Eisener, won all the first prizes. He is regarded as one of the most gifted pupils the institution has had.
The professorship of music and director of the conservatory of music of Adelaide, Australia, is to be filled this fall. The appointment is for five years at a salary of $4000 a year.
A series of concerts to make the master-pieces of musical literature accessible to all classes, free of charge, have been given in a municipal park, in Sondershausen, Germany, for one hundred years.
Walter Damrosch says that it is probable that Paderewski’s opera, “Manru,” will be given in New York this season. The work will be sung in German. There is an English translation, however.
Emil Sauer, who played in this country several seasons ago, has been given charge of the classes in higher piano-playing in the Vienna Conservatory, and received the title of Imperial and Royal Professor.
The Buddhist priests of both China and Japan have a musical instrument called mokougy, or wooden fish, a kind of drum. It is used by the priests when reciting their prayers, one tap being given to every syllable.
An organization has been formed in Boston for the purpose of securing funds for the erection of an international monument in Milan to the memory of Verdi. Subscriptions may be sent to J. Montgomery Sears, Sears Building, Boston.
The two Maine music festivals will be under the direction of William R. Chapman; at Bangor, October 3d, 4th, and 5th; and Portland, October 7th, 8th, and 9th. Five concerts are to be given in each city, three evening and two afternoon.
According to a London paper, Melba’s favorite songs are: “Ah! fors e lui,” by Verdi; “Ardon gl’Incensi,” Donizetti; “Good-Bye,” Tosti; “L’Amero,” Mozart; “The Prayer,” from “Tannhäuser,” Wagner; “Nymphes et Sylvanes,” Bemberg.
The Belgians are said to be fond of carillons, and in some of the cities there are as many as 40 and 43 bells in a series. These are chimed automatically or by a player who manipulates a keyboard, attached to the machine, with his feet, and a row of pedals with his feet.
A Chicago music firm offered the municipality of Genoa, Italy, $20,000 for the celebrated Guarnerius violin which was the property of Paganini, and bequeathed by him, together with papers, medals, and other curios connected with it, to his native city. The offer was refused.
The late Alfred Piatti once told a friend that he had made more money buying and selling instruments than he had by his playing. Yet he was probably the best violoncellist of his age, and he spent the greater part of his life in London, where chamber music is much appreciated.
An English paper says that Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was used for the first time at a public marriage ceremony on the occasion of the marriage of the late Empress Frederick, in 1858; and that Wagner’s now popular “Bridal Chorus,” from “Lohengrin” was used at a state concert during the same week.
An exchange, in considering the question of physique with reference to men of eminence in music, calls attention to the fact that most of them were, with few exceptions, men of about medium height and build, a number of them small. Those who have been above medium height are generally inclined to slenderness.
An English paper, in reply to a query as to the three most difficult piano-pieces, named Liszt’s arrangement of the “Tannhäuser” overture, Tausig’s transcription of Weber’s “Invitation to the Dance,” and Brahms’s left-hand study on Weber’s “Moto Perpetuo.” An alternate is offered in Balakireff’s “Islamey.”
The Moody-Manners Opera Company, of London, offer a prize of $1250, and 10 per cent. of net profits made by the company, for an original opera, the offer open to anyone. M. Colonne, Sig. Mancinelli, and Herr Lohse will be the judges. Application may be made to Mr. C. Manners, 44 Berwick Street, Oxford Street, W., London.
An English organist, fifty years of age, was told by a clergyman, in whose church he sought a position, that he was too old for effective work. The clergyman was seventy-three years old. A correspondent to a musical paper in London suggests that perhaps it requires more activity, endurance, mental and physical, on the organ-bench than in the pulpit.
Madame Nordica has just completed a book for singers, also containing personal reminiscences of her career. The manuscript was edited and prepared for publication by Mr. William Armstrong, the well-known critic and musical writer, who contributed the very interesting series of talks with prominent artists published in The Etude several months ago.
Vienna reports say that the number of American students is not so great as the teachers and various music-schools wish. We hope the day is not far distant when other European cities will say the same thing. Then we will know that poorly-prepared students are not going abroad to acquire a dearly-bought prestige upon which they will later try to trade.
Jan Kubelik, the young Bohemian violinist, who is to play in this country this season, was born in 1880. Stringed instruments are a national institution in connection with the dance or folk-song. He began his studies at an early age, and when twelve years old was admitted to the celebrated Prague Conservatory. His principal teacher was Sevcik. He made a great success in England the last season.
An authority on tuning says that a piano should be tuned at least twice a year; the fact that a piano is little used does not, by any means, warrant its going more than six months without tuning. From the day a piano leaves the factory it begins to lower in pitch due to the immense strain on the stretched strings, which is from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds. A piano that has been left more than one year without tuning will be found most always a tone or more flat, and the efforts of the best tuner cannot make it stay in tune but a short period, until he shall have tuned it three or four times.
Dr. William B. Pape, known a number of years ago as Willie Pape, pianist and composer, died at Mobile, Ala., August 30th. He was born in Mobile. His father was a violin virtuoso, and looked after the boy’s early education, which was begun at four years of age. In January, 1861, he started to go to Europe to study, but the outbreak of the Civil War changed the plans, and his father decided to stay in New York City, where the boy played with much success. It was not until a year later that the trip to England was made. His career here was a successful one, and by his concert-playing, composing, and teaching he amassed a considerable fortune. He returned to the United States and located in Mobile. In 1882 he took up the study of medicine, and after graduation, in connection with his practice, occupied the chair of Professor of Physiology and Hygiene.
