The new hall for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will seat 2500 persons.
Dvorak’s latest work in large form, an opera, “Armida,” was given at Prague in March.
Teresa Carreno and her daughter, Teresita Tagliopietra, are giving concerts together.
A Gretry museum is to be opened in Liege, Belgium, in the house in which the composer was born.
The Leeds, England, Festival Chorus numbers 371 members—106 sopranos, 86 altos, 84 tenors, and 95 basses.
The season just closed has been the most successful for the Chicago Orchestra in the past five years. The deficit will not exceed $15,000.
Pasquale Rondinella, a famous vocal teacher of the old Italian school, died in Philadelphia, in April, aged 82. He had lived in this country since 1854.
Mr. Gerard Francis Cobb, an English composer of church music, which enjoys appreciation in this country, died at Cambridge, England, March 31st. He was an officer of the university.
A report made to the Leipzig Chamber of Commerce states that “the United States is the greatest and most able competitor of Germany in reed organs, furnishing half the quantity which Germany uses.”
Guilmant has arranged for a series of historic recitals of organ literature at the Trocadero for the benefit of the pupils of the Paris Conservatoire. They take place every Monday from April 25th to July 11th.
Mr. George F. C. le Jeune, organist of St. John’s Chapel, Trinity Parish, New York City, died April 11th, aged 62. He was an organist of ability and composer of several hymn tunes that enjoy great favor.
A full score of Wagner’s opera, “Die Meistersinger,” in miniature form, with German, English, and French text, especially designed for the use of students, has been published in Germany. The price there is $6.00.
Julius Günther, once a celebrated opera singer, and the most famous singing teacher of Sweden, died at Stockholm, March 22d, aged 87. He was a pupil of Manuel Garcia, in Paris. From 1839 to 1845 he sang much with Jenny Lind.
Theodor Steingräber, music publisher of Leipzig, the founder of the well-known “Steingräber Edition” of standard compositions, died April 5th, aged 75. He was the compiler of a piano method published under the name of Gustav Damm.
Edward Elgar has been elected a member of the famous Athenæum Club of London, under a rule which admits of the election annually, without the usual formalities, of not more than 9 men distinguished in literature, science and art.
A Paris correspondent says that Jean de Reszke has opened a school for singers in that city. The classes are limited to 4 or 5, and will be under the supervision of the director. In time it is hoped that accommodations can be offered to 100 students.
A New York exchange says that Mr. Conried will arrange for the production of “Parsifal” in Boston and Chicago next season, and perhaps also in California, on the tour after the close of the season at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City.
A Berlin music publisher says that the sale of modern music, especially works by such composers as Tschaikowsky, Richard Strauss, Moszkowski, Rachmaninoff, Cui, etc., is very large; the demand for Grieg’s works is still constant and on the increase rather than decrease.
During March the agents of the Musical Copyright Association of England siezed (sic) 60,633 copies of sheet music that had been unlawfully printed. Many plates were also taken possession of. Publishers are trying to secure some needed revisions of the copyright laws of England.
Salomon Sulzer, the “faithful Eckart,” as a German contemporary calls him, of Jewish music in Austria, who has given his life to the service of religious music, celebrated on March 30th, his one hundredth birthday. He is the great reformer of music in the Jewish religious service.
The Conservatoire Populaire, in Geneva, Switzerland, is said to be the only free private school of music in the world. There are 11 teachers and 250 pupils, who are principally from the poorer classes. The only fee is $2.00 annually per pupil, which is estimated to cover the cost of rent, heat, and light.
A tablet to the memory of Americans who have written patriotic songs has been placed in the music room of the Boston Public Library. The names on the tablet are: William Billings, Oliver Holden, John Howard Payne, Samuel Francis Smith, Francis Scott Key, George Frederic Root, and Julia Ward Howe.
Mr. Edgar Stillman Kelly, the American composer, who recently went to Berlin for a short stay, has found so much demand for instruction in composition from him and for some of his other work, notably his lecture recitals, that he has decided to locate in that city. He will be a welcome addition to the American colony.
A list of choral works performed in England during the past season shows active choral organizations to the number of 93, of which London and suburbs furnish 26 societies. Few of the large American cities can show more than 5 or 6 strong choral organizations. A list of the smaller clubs of England and societies that make a specialty of glees, madrigals, and part songs would be interesting.
The St. Louis Exposition was opened April 30th. Special music for the ceremony had been prepared, among which was a march composed for the occasion by Mr. Frank van der Stucken, called “Louisiana,” introducing themes from the “Marseillaise,” “Hail Columbia,” “Dixie,” and “Old Hundredth.” The “Hymn of the West,” text by Edmund Clarence Stedman, music by Prof. J. K. Paine, was sung for the first time.
At an informal meeting of the Archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, it was decided that under present circumstances it is impossible to carry out the decree of Pope Pius X, ordering a restoration of the Gregorian chant in the church services and particularly the banishment of women from church choirs, substituting boys for them. If there were a supply of trained boy choristers to draw from according to need, the change might be practicable.
For the first time in four centuries a choir, which included women, sang in the Vatican, April 16th. The occasion was the performance of the Abbé Perosi’s new oratorio, “The Last Judgment,” before the Pope, cardinals, and other church dignitaries. The Pope, carrying out his purpose to revive Gregorian music, has established at Rome an international college for training boy singers. It is under the direction of the Abbé Perosi, who is master of music at the Vatican.
Ysaye’s manager announces quite an innovation for the tour of the great violinist next season. When he takes up a tour a lecturer will precede him, explaining the various methods of violin-playing, how the different works were interpreted by such masters as Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Wilhelmj, and Joachim; he will also explain Ysaye’s own method of interpreting the compositions of the masters. These lectures will be given in each city one week preceding Ysaye’s appearance.
The People’s Symphony Society of New York City, will give two concerts at Carnegie Hall and four at Cooper Union next season. These concerts aim to attract students of music and wage-earners; tickets are not on sale publicly; cards of identification are distributed by the People’s Institute, University Extension Society, music schools, music teachers, colleges, art schools, and department stores, a precaution to see that persons who come within scope of the work are afforded an opportunity to hear good music at a small fee.
The new concert hall for the Thomas Orchestra in Chicago will contain a $20,000 pipe organ, the contract for which has just been awarded to Lyon & Healy, of Chicago. The organ, when completed, will represent the highest standard of the organbuilders’ art, and is especially designed for orchestral work, with a number of new features especially prepared for this organ. It is to be furnished with an electropneumatic action and a movable console. The position of the organ will be directly behind and about ten feet above the orchestra. It is to be installed ready for use by November 1st.
The Minnesota State Music Teachers’ Association will meet in Duluth, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of the present month. Mr. E. C. Murdock, the president, has been very active in stirring up interest, and the Program Committee has prepared a number of very interesting features, among which are a “Minnesota Composers’ ” program, a lecture by Mr. W. J. Henderson, of New York City, critic of the Sun, whose writings are well known to readers of The Etude. The “Round Table” meetings and those in the interests of public school music will be very attractive. Mr. Emile Sauret, the eminent French violinist, now a resident of Chicago, will be present.
The sixteenth annual convention and music festival of the Illinois Music Teachers’ Association will be held at Danville, June 7th to 10th. The officers are William F. Bentley, president, Galesburg; Florence French, secretary and treasurer, 250 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. The program is made up of the usual concert and educational attractions. We note papers by Hubbard William Harris, Mrs. Chandler Starr, W. P. Bentley, Kirk Towns, Miss A. M. Allen, Mrs. Clare Osborne Reed, John Winter Thompson, and Glenn D. Gunn. Among the artists to be present are William H. Sherwood, Theodore Spiering, Walter Spry, Emil Liebling, Emile Sauret, and Rudolph Ganz.
The annual convention of the Sinfonia of America will take place on May 18th, 19th, and 20th, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Sinfonia is the only national musical fraternity in the world, and bears the same relation to the student life of the conservatories that the college fraternities do to college life. It is composed of chapters, one of which is located in the leading conservatory of each of the larger cities. The national officers are George C. Williams, president; W. S. Sterling, vice-president; Earle G. Killeen, secretary; Gilbert Raynolds Combs, treasurer; Ralph Howard Pendleton, historian. The fraternity has organized the following chapters: Alpha, at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston; Beta, at the Broad Street Conservatory of Music, Philadelphia; Delta, at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music, Ithaca; Epsilon, at the University School of Music, Ann Arbor; Zeta, at the Chicago Auditorium Conservatory, Chicago; Eta, at the Cincinnati College of Music, Cincinnati; Gamma, at the Detroit Conservatory of Music, Detroit; Theta, at the Syracuse University, Syracuse.
Music-lovers in Greater New York are interesting themselves in the matter of a first-class music college for American students. Some Brooklyn enthusiasts have proposed a plan for an authoritative college of music, with orchestra, to be under the direction of a man of world-wide reputation; a visiting jury of eminent musicians, a board of management competent to keep high the ideals of instruction and performance, and a finance committee of citizens of Brooklyn. The college would have a four years’ course of study, with entrance examinations, leading to the degree of Mus. Bac. Some of the citizens of New York City proper are also working in this direction. Mr. James Loeb, a wealthy music-lover, has offered to give $500,000 to a conservatory of music, as a tribute to his mother, with the proviso that an equal amount be raised. It is said that Mr. Frank Damrosch is now in Europe studying the organization and workings of endowed schools there. If the enterprize is carried out it is probable that Mr. Damrosch will be the managing director.
An exchange gives the following titles of national anthems: Argentina, “Oid Mortales, el Grito Sagrado”; Austria, “Gott Erhalte Unser Kaiser”; Belgium, “La Brabanconne”; Bohemia, “War Song of the Hussites”; Brazil, “Hymno da Proclamacao da Republica”; Burma, “Thava Than”; Chili, “Dulce Patria”; Costa Rica, “De la Patria”; Denmark, “King Kristian Stod ved Hojen Mast”; Ecuador, “Salve, O Patria”; Egypt, “Salaam, Effendina”; Finland. “Sart Land”; France, “La Marseillaise”; Germany, “Heil Dir im Siegerkranz”; Great Britain, “God Save the King”; Holland, “Wien Nierlansch;” Hungary, “Isten Aid Meg Magyart”; Italy, “Royal March”; Japan, “Keeme Gajo”; Mexico, “Mexicanos, al Grito de Guerra”; Persia, “Salamati Shah”; Peru, “Somos Libres, Seamisio Siempre”; Roumania, “Traeasca Regale”; Russia, “Bozhe, Zaria, Chrany”; Salvador, “Saludemos la Patria”; Servia, “God in His Goodness”; Spain, “Himno de Riego”; Sweden, “Ur Svenska Hjertans”; Switzerland, “Rufst Du, Mein Vaterland”; United States, “Star-Spangled Banner”; Uruguay, “Himno Nacional de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay”; Venezuela, “Gloria al Bravo Pueblo.”
