The house in which Beethoven died at Vienna is now being destroyed.
Fraulein Fritzi Scheff, of the Grau Opera Company, will star in light opera next season.
The Berlin "Klavier-Lehrer" is agitating the formation of an association of German music-teachers.
Coleridge Taylor, the English composer, began his musical life as a choir-boy, in the parish church at Croydon.
The Concert-Goer, of New York has been sold to the Chicago Musical Leader, of which Mrs. Florence French is editor.
Bach's "Passion According to St. John" was given complete, for the first time in Paris, in January last at the Conservatoire.
Madame Melba is still in Australia. From there she will go to San Francisco, crossing the United States from west to east.
Edward Macdowell's recitals have proven popular. All the seats were sold in advance of his recital at the Brooklyn Institute.
Planquette, best known as composer of "The Chimes of Normandy," died in Paris, January 28th. He was born in Paris in 1853.
Marie Wieck, Robert Schumann's sister-in-law, gave a "Schumann Evening" in Dresden in January. She is now eighty years of age.
A symphony by Dohnányi, the young Hungarian pianist who toured the United States a year or so ago, has been brought out in Europe.
A series of people's concerts has been organized in Lausanne, Switzerland, the admission fee being twenty centimes (four cents) to subscribers.
The next Triennial Handel Festival will be held this summer at the Crystal Palace. A pianoforte and music-trade exhibition will be held at the same time.
The Steinway art grand piano made some years ago for the late Henry Marquand, at a cost said to be $50,000, was sold at public auction recently, bringing $8000.
Madame Roger-Miclos, a French pianiste, is the latest aspirant for pianistic honors and financial success in American cities. She was well received in New York City.
A New York piano-dealer makes the statement that the small grand is the piano of the future. The demand for this style is much greater than at any time heretofore.
A libretto for a new opera is awaiting Mascagni's return to Italy. The subject is said to be taken from the French Revolution, and the opera may be called "Marie Antoinette."
Mr. Richard Burmeister has accepted the position of head of the piano department in the Royal Conservatory of Music, Dresden. He will commence his work there next September.
Announcement has been made that Duss, the bandmaster, has made contracts with Madame Nordica and Jean de Reszke by which they will be the soloists for his next season's tour.
Four letters by J. S. Bach, recently discovered in the archives of Sangerhausen and offered to a Berlin collector for $720, will not be sold, but will be placed in the care of some one of the existing Bach museums.
Music, the monthly magazine, edited and published for a number of years by W. S. B. Mathews, has been merged into another Chicago publication of a general character. Mr. Mathews will be a contributor to the new paper.
A concert-grand piano especially designed and decorated for the White House has been presented to President Roosevelt by Mr. Charles H. Steinway. The piano is decorated in gold, mounted upon three eagles, with outspread wings.
A Brooklyn man has patented what he calls a duo flute. By attaching a reed mechanism to a Boehm flute he produces a quality of tone combining the flute and clarinet character. Like the flute, it is a non-transposing instrument.
The large organ in Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, is to be rebuilt according to the ideas of Mr. Lemare, the present organist, by the Hutchings-Votey Company, of Boston, at a cost of $2500. The work will be completed by April 1st.
The Wagner heirs received in 1902, $115,000 in royalties from his operas exclusive of the Bayreuth profits. "Lohengrin," the most popular, returned $68,000. It was given in the United States 312 times, for which about $20,000 was paid in royalties.
London correspondence says that a contract has been made with Madame Patti by Mr. Grau for sixty concerts in the United States, Canada, City of Mexico, and Havana, at $5000 for each concert, the tour to begin in New York, November 3, 1903.
The official reports of the Paris Grand Opera make the highest salary $1400 a month, paid to a tenor, Mons. Affre. The prizes, so far as money is concerned, are certainly not in Paris. Jean de Reszke received during his last season here, over $2000 a performance.
On the 14th of April Jean de Reszke's private theater in Paris will be opened. It is modeled after the Bayreuth Festival Theater, and has a seating capacity for 120 spectators. The orchestra is concealed from view as at Bayreuth, and space is allowed for thirty players.
William K. Bassford, a well-known American composer, died at Belleville, N. J., recently. He was born in New York City, April 23, 1839. He had some instructions in piano from Gottschalk, his studies in harmony and composition being carried on under the direction of Samuel P. Jackson.
The manuscript of a setting of Moore's poem, "From Chindara's Warbling Fount I Come" ("Lalla Rookh"), by Weber, was sold in London lately for $65. This is considered the composer's last piece of work. It was sung at his benefit concert in London, May 21, 1826, two weeks before his death.
The Minister of Fine Arts of France has ruled that hereafter pianos of foreign makes are to be rule out of concerts receiving state aid. This, coming so soon after the demonstration against Madame Bloomfield-Zeisler, in Paris, who played on a Steinway, looks as if the French piano-makers are behind the ruling.
Herschel, the astronomer, was organist and music director at Bath, England, before he made a success in the field of science. Galileo, the astronomer, was the son of Vincenzo Galilei, the Florentine composer, so intimately associated with the early history of the opera. The astronomer was also a skilful musician.
Mr. Ernst Perabo, of Boston, while in London last fall, presented to the British Museum a manuscript of Schubert's Op. 78, in the composer's own handwriting. According to Mr. Perabo's statement, the composition was written in Vienna in 1826. The manuscript came into Mr. Perabo's possession in 1883.
A bill has been introduced in the Illinois Legislature to provide for a board of examiners to pass upon the qualifications of all music-teachers in the state. The board is to consist of five members, at least two pianists, one vocalist, and one violinist. The fee for license to practice the profession is to be three dollars per annum.
The Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati offered a fine gold medal for the best setting of S. F. Smith's hymn, "My Country, T'is of Thee," to be used as a national anthem. The competition closed February 22d. Dudley Buck and S. P. Warren were the musical advisers to the committee. Up to the time of going to press the award had not been made.
The trustees of the Chicago Orchestra have expressed a feeling that the enterprise will have to be given up on account of a lack of public support. The annual deficit has been upward of $30,000 for some time. They say: "It is impossible to continue meeting this deficit, as heretofore, by the precarious expedient of subscriptions annually solicited."
Mr. Louis C. Elson gave a very interesting lecture in the Garrick Theater, Philadelphia, February 16th, with the assistance of the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Mr. Scheel. This was one of the lectures in the course of five educational concerts. The first two were delivered by Mr. W. J. Henderson and Mr. W. F. Apthorp. The last two will be by Dr. H. A. Clarke and Mr. H. E. Krehbiel.
Augusta Holmes, a successful French composer, died in Paris, January 28th. Madame Holmes' first composition was published with success when she was but fourteen. After this she spent several years with the best teachers, which put the seal of good technic on her great talent. Her works included several symphonies and other large works for orchestra, operas, choruses, and songs. She was born at Paris, December 16, 1847.
According to a German work containing statistics about operas, concerts, etc., in Germany during the season of 1901-1902, the most popular operas ranged as follows: "Carmen" and "Faust," each 293 performances; "Tannhäuser," 268; "Cavalleria," 249; "Freischütz," 243; "Trovatore," 238; "Mignon," 220; "Undine," 217; "Faust," 212; "Flying Dutchman," 194; "Czar and Zimmerman," 190; "Martha," 190; "Magic Flute," 173; "Die Walküre," 162.
Mr. Ernest Kroeger, of St. Louis, has recently published a set of "Ten American Character Sketches" which should be known to everyone who is interested in compositions by American composers which are available for concert and recital as well as teaching purposes. We quote a few titles: No. 1, The Gamin; No. 4, The Lonely Ranchman; No. 9, Indian Air, with Variations; No. 10, Voodo Night-Scene.
A recent faculty concert was given by the American Violin School, February 24th. The Orchestral Club, of 40 performers, under director Joseph Vilim, assisted.
Mr. George Whitefield Andrews is giving a series of organ-recitals in Warner Hall, Oberlin Conservatory, from September 29, 1902, to June 15, 1903.
The South Atlantic States Annual Music Festival will be held in Spartanburg, S. C., April 29th, 30th, and May 1st. Two afternoon and three night concerts. "Faust" and "Aida" will be given in concert form. The Boston Festival Orchestra, Emil Mollenhauer, conductor, will assist. Dr. R. H. Peters will be director in charge of the Festival.
The concert at the opening of the new organ for the First Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Iowa, was given under the direction of Henry W. Matlack, organist, February 6, 1903.
Dr. Henry G. Hanchett has recently given with success his lecture "The Pairs of Musical History." Bach, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and Chopin are represented in the lecture.
Mary E. Hallock, the pianist, filled a return engagement at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa., February 16th. She played at Hagerstown, Md., on the 13th, and at Carlisle, Pa., on the 14th.
Gustav L. Becker gave the third of a series of lecture- recitals at his home, 1 West 104th Street, New York City, February 7th. The subject of a brief talk was "The Relation of Mendelssohn and Schumann to the Romantic Movement."
Pupils of the Western Conservatory, Chicago, gave a recital recently, the program of which included selections arranged for sixteen hands on four pianos. Ensemble playing is a characteristic feature of the conservatory recitals. Such playing not only affords excellent drill in preparation, but also lends a pleasing variety to the program.
