In a sale of old violins in London, a Strad, dated 1717, brought $2200.
A letter from Beethoven to Bettina von Amini was recently sold for $250.
The meeting of the Illinois Music-Teachers’ Association at Galesburg was rather poorly attended.
Madame Calve is announced for next season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
Max Bendix has been talked of for the vacant position of concertmeister of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
The wire used in making the best grade piano-strings will break only at a tension of upward of five hundred pounds.
The Premier of England, Mr. Balfour, has accepted the presidency of the Bach Choir of London. He is very much interested in choral music.
A music-school has been opened at Trieste, that will bear the name of Tartini, the celebrated Italian violinist and composer of the eighteenth century.
The total attendance at the last Handel Festival was 81,848, a gain over the previous festival in 1900. August Manns and Frederic H. Corven were the conductors.
Dan Godfrey, the noted English bandmaster, died June 30th in London, aged seventy-three. Many of our readers have heard his famous band, in this country as well as in England.
Mr. Henry Wood, the English conductor, is to raise a body of one hundred picked chorus-singers, who will give their attention to the practice and performance of choral masterpieces.
Jacques Thibaud, the French violinist, who will tour the United States next season, is about twenty-three years old. He has won great commendations in Berlin and other German cities.
A German paper says when de Pachmann was asked to name in order the great pianists of the day he said: “Second, Godowsky; third, Rosenthal; fourth, Paderewski; Fifth, Busoni.”
The Ohio State Music-Teachers’ Association held its twenty-first meeting at Cleveland, June 25th and 26th. A program of music and educational addresses was carried out successfully.
The students of the School of Music connected with the University of Michigan have issued a paper under the name of the University School of Music Record. It will be published quarterly.
Anton Door, the well-known piano-teacher and editor of classics, of Vienna, recently celebrated his seventieth birthday. A purse of $2000 was presented to him by his pupils and friends.
The Iowa State Music-Teachers’ Association is on a strong footing with a membership of over 200. At the recent meeting held in Ottumwa, Mr. W. H. Pontus, of Dubuque, was elected president.
Manager Wolfsohn announces a limited number of Richard Strauss Recitals, in which the composer will be assisted by Madame Strauss de Ahna, a popular soprano of the Bayreuth Festspiele.
The gold medal offered by the Society of the Cincinnati of Rhode Island for the best musical setting of the hymn “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” was awarded to Mr. Arthur Johnstone, of New York City.
Hubermann, the violinist, was recently allowed to play on the Guarnerius violin, Paganini’s favorite, now the property of the City of Genoa. Only once before was that privilege granted, and then to Sivori.
The Missouri State Music-Teachers’ Association met in Jefferson City June 23d to 26th. A good attendance marked the sessions. Mrs. W. D. Steele, of Sedalia, Mo., was elected president. The next place of meeting will be St. Louis.
The proprietor of one of the large traveling shows has given the order for a pipe-organ to be erected on a wagon. It will have four manuals. What a gain to the hearer who will not be compelled to listen to that musical abomination, the steam calliope.
Mr. B. J. Lang, of Boston, received the degree of Master of Arts from Yale University at the recent commencement. In so doing the university has honored the cause of American Musicianship, for which Mr. Lang’s long years of splendid service are a valuable part.
The one hundred and sixty-fifth anniversary of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain was held in London, June 25th. The society was instituted in 1738 for the maintenance of old musicians, their widows and orphans. Last year $20,000 was expended in this way.
Dr. Charles Steggall, a well-known English organist and composer, has given up active work by resigning his position as head of the organ-teaching department in the Royal Academy of Music, London. As student and teacher he was connected with the school for fifty-six years.
From a statistical table prepared by the Bureau of Commerce and Finance we note the development of the business in the exportation of musical instruments. In 1883, $5400; in 1843, $6684; in 1853, $52,397; in 1863, $149,103; 1873, $461,477; 1883, $1,203,612; 1893, $1,824,107; 1900, $1,958,779; 1902, $3,694,143.
Mr. Carlyle Petersilea, at one time a teacher of piano-playing in the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, and a highly esteemed pianist, died a short time ago in California. Many of his former pupils are now teaching in various parts of the United States. Mr. Petersilia was born in Boston in 1844.
Instead of electing a conductor for a year or a term of years, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra has engaged the following famous conductors for one concert each: Richard Strauss, Felix Weingartner, Edouard Colame, Henry Wood, and Gustav Kogel. In addition to the above it is announced that Richard Strauss will conduct one or more works at each of the five Wetzler concerts in New York City, and subsequently tour under Henry Wolfsohn’s management.
Mr. A. J. Hipkins, of the firm of Broadwood & Sons, pianomakers of London, died June 4th, at the age of seventy-seven. He was an expert on the subject of musical instruments, especially those with keys, and had much to do with the adoption of the system of tuning in equal temperament in England, as he had given special study to questions of pitch. He wrote one hundred and thirty-four articles for Grove’s “Dictionary of Music and Musicians,” besides a number of works on scientific subjects.
This year’s meeting of the New York State Music-Teachers’ Association was held in Troy, June 22d to 25th. A fine festival program was rendered by members of the Association and visiting artists. Papers on subjects connected with musical education were read by John B. Shirley, Carl Faelton, F H.. (sic) Shepard, Homer N. Norris, T. C. Jeffers, Waldo S. Pratt, F. H. Tubbs, F. W. Wodell, H. C. Macdougall, Lillie d’ Angelo Bergh, and Garrit Smith. Niagara Falls was selected for the next place of meeting, and Mr. Jaroslau de Zielinski, of Buffalo, was elected president.
August Manns, who has conducted the orchestral concerts at the Crystal Palace, London, for nearly fifty years, has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Oxford University. He is credited with having first produced in England many of the now world-famous compositions of Schubert and Schumann, and having introduced many great soloists, among others Sarasate, when the latter was little more than a boy. When Jean Gerardy, the now famous ‘cello virtuoso, was eleven years old, he made his first public appearance at one of the Crystal Palace concerts.
The Berlin Museum for Musical Instruments has been removed to its new home in the Hochschule für Musik at Charlottenburg. The collection contains the rarest examples of instruments from the Serpent (fifteenth century) down to the grand piano of the present day; violin in all their stages of development are here; also curiosities of the violin family made of glass, tin, and clay. An instrument with much historical interest is a harpsichord owned by Bach. It has two rows of keys; the color of the latter is the reverse of what we are accustomed to, the “sharps and flats” being white, the “natural” keys, black. Mozart’s violin, used by him when he was a boy, may be seen here; also instruments which belonged to Weber, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, and others.
The historical collection of musical instruments presented to Yale University by Morris Steinert was formally opened during commencement week. It consists in part of very early clavichords, harpsichords, and spinets of the sixteenth century and to the date of the invention of the pianoforte, thus representing the history of development in that period. The collection is also representative of the very early school of the hammerclaviers, and of the pianoforte from 1725 to 1825. It is also interesting to note here that grand pianofortes used by Haydn, Beethoven, and other noted musicians are also included in this collection. In addition to the keyboard instruments, the collection includes also a representation of the early period of the violin family, such as violas and viol de gambas. For the student of literature and musical history there is a fine display of ancient missals and the photographic reproductions of manuscripts.
HOME NOTES.
A vocal recital was given by pupils of Mrs. Marie Fobert at Rockland, Mass.
Mr. Arthur E. James gave his annual Pupils’ Recital at Grand Forks, N. D., last month.
We have received some interesting recital programs from the Hamilton, Ont., Conservatory of Music.
The Music Department of Baylor College, Tex., closed its season with a series of interesting recitals.
The commencement exercises of the Conservatory of Music, Nashville, Tenn., were held June 30th.
Mr. Alfred Arthur’s School of Music, Cleveland, O., closed the season with a series of fine recitals.
A kindergarten musicale was given by pupils of Miss Agnes Elliott at the Burrowes School, Detroit, June 23d.
The closing recitals of St. Mary’s-of-the-Woods, conducted by the Sisters of Providence, were very successful.
Miss Bertha Wilbur, who has been in Berlin for two years studying with Godowsky, has returned to Los Angeles, Cal.
The closing recitals of St. Clara College, Wis., under the charge of the Dominican Sisters, were held June 9th and 10th.
We have received some interesting musical and literary programs from the St. Cecelia Society of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Pupils of the Monroe, Mich., School of Music gave a public musicale, June 8th, assisted by Master Harry Saladin, of Detroit.
The organ and piano pupils of Mrs. Fay Simmons Davis gave a recital in the North Avenue Congregational Church, Cambridge, Mass.
We have received a copy of the commencement program of the Alton, Ill., Conservatory of Music. There were twelve graduates.
The University of Syracuse, Syracuse, N. Y., has conferred upon Mr. Ernst Held of that city the honorary degree of Doctor of Music.
A “Flower Musicale” was given by pupils of Mrs. F. A. Stanford, at Nebraska City. The titles of all the pieces played represented flowers.
The commencement exercises of the Chicago Piano College, Mr. Charles E. Watt, director, were held June 18th. There were twelve graduates.
A feature of the commencement exercises of Iowa
College was the singing of Haydn’s “Creation” by the Grinnell Oratorio Society, Henry W. Matlack, conductor.
Miss Elizabeth Stanton, of Helena, Ark., has gone to Berlin, and will study with Xaver Scharwenka, returning in the fall to resume her teaching in Helena.
The Forty-third Annual Commencement exercises of the Wesleyan College of Music, Bloomington, Ill., were held June 10th and 12th. The College Orchestral Club assisted.
The Seventy-Sixth Annual Commencement of the Shurtleff College, Illinois, was held June 4th. Pupils from the School of Music assisted. Mr. W. D. Armstrong officiated at the organ.
A students’ concert was held at the Seminary Conservatory of Music, Troy, O. The Conservatory Orchestra, strengthened by members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, assisted.
Mr. H. M. Kennedy, for some time a student of Halir in Berlin and Geloso in Paris, has returned to the United States, and will locate in San Francisco, giving his attention to violin-teaching and concert-work.
The commencement concerts of the University of South Dakota were under the direction of Mr. Ethelbert Grabill, dean of the College of Music. The recitals by members of the graduating class were given in May and June.
Mr. George L. McMillan gave a series of recitals at Hillsboro, Tex., assisted by his pupils. Much interest was manifested in a lecture-recital by Mr. W. Waugh Lander, of Chicago, who was secured by Mr. McMillan with a view to arousing greater interest in the better class of music.
