Edvard Grieg has agreed to conduct a concert of his own works in Berlin next April.
European notes indicate that there may be no Festival season at Bayreuth next summer.
Dr. Richter recently conducted his 4000th public performance. He is now 63 years old.
Mme. Lillian Nordica sang at the autumn opera season, Covent Garden, London, last month.
Coleridge-Taylor, the English composer, is to be here this season, making a somewhat extensive tour.
Saint-Saëns is to give an organ recital either at the Plymouth Church or the Baptist Temple, Brooklyn, on the 3d inst.
Arthur Nikisch has given up his position as Director of the Leipzig Conservatory and will limit his work to the classes in conducting.
Paderewski has canceled his contract for an American tour this year. Inability to finish his symphony in time is the assigned cause.
Saint-Saëns made his first appearance in New York City, November 3, with the Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Walter Damrosch, conductor.
Harry B. Gurney, a Philadelphia tenor, who has been studying in Italy for the past two years, made successful opera appearances this summer.
The Chicago Apollo Club expects a very successful season, as the sale of tickets to subscribers is twice that of last year at the present time.
Van Dyck, the celebrated opera tenor, has accepted a position as professor in charge of the higher classes in singing in the Conservatory at Antwerp.
Theodore Spiering, formerly of Chicago, now located in Berlin, gave two successful recitals in London, October 11 and 22. Mr. Spiering is much in demand as a teacher.
Schumann’s paper Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, established in 1834, has been merged with the well-known Berlin this season, the first devoted to works by Mazart, (sic)
The record of the German music publishing trade for 1905 is 12,797 works, of which instrumental music furnished 6,889, vocal compositions, 5,437, and musical literature, 471.
Prof. Wirth, for many years viola player in the Joachim Quartet of Berlin, has been compelled to resign owing to an affection of the eyes. Karl Klingler, a pupil of Joachim, takes his place.
Mr. Morris Steinert, of New Haven, has given a prize of $100 to the Yale Music School, to be awarded to the pupil whose composition shall be adjudged the best. Prof. Horatio Parker is head of the school.
Alexander Scriabine, the popular Russian composer and pianist, is to make a visit to this country this month. He will play in New York City on the 20th. He has been characterized as the “Russian Chopin.”
Pepito Arriolo, the Spanish boy, a protége of Arthur Nikisch, played in London in October, and created quite a sensation. He uses a specially constructed piano, with smaller keys than usual and a lighter touch.
The Musical Age, a trade paper of New York City, estimates the number of pianos made in the United States in 1906, at 300,000. This is a very satisfactory gain over 1905, which had a production of 251,957 instruments.
An American piano manufacturer, who made a visit to Mme. Patti’s home in Wales, says that the diva has enough pianos and organs scattered through the castle to stock a music store. Most of the instruments were gifts from makers.
A Report of the Minnesota State Board of Equalization presents some interesting facts. In 1905 there were 39,204 pianos in the State; in 1906, 52,543. At that rate of increase the State should be a growing field for music teachers.
Theodor Bohlmann, for a number of years a teacher in the Cincinnati College of Music, is now in Berlin, in the Stern Conservatory. In October he played with the Philharmonic Orchestra, his former teacher, Karl Klindworth, conducting.
Forty concerts and rehearsals will form the local season for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Soloists engaged are Saint-Saëns, Gadski, Schumann-Heink, Arthur Hartman, Rosenthal, Fanny Bloomfield Zeisler, Olga Samaroff, Lhèvinne, Petschnikoff.
Sevcik, according to a note from Prague, is to leave that city, and remove to Germany, where he will continue his teaching. Since the remarkable success of his pupils, Kubelik, Kocian and Marie Hall, his school is filled with students from all countries.
Saint-Saëns’ tour will include engagements as piano and organ soloist and orchestral conductor. An effort is being made to get together a body of singers to give the Opera “Samson and Delilah” under the composer’s direction in a number of the larger cities.
Manager Conried will put several novelties on the boards this winter if he fulfils his prospectus. Giordano’s “Fedora,” Dupont’s “La Cabrera,” “Manon Lescaut,” “Adrienne Lecouvreur,” “Andre Chenier,” “Mme. Butterfly” and “Salome” are promised.
The Mendelssohn Prize of $750, the contest for which takes place at the Royal High School for Music in Berlin each year, in October, was divided this year, half going to Max Felix, for work in composition; the other half to Elfriede Martick, a singer.
Henri Ravina, composer and pianist of eminence, died in Paris, October 1, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He taught at the Conservatoire for many years, and a number of prominent French musicians owe their education to his careful and thorough instruction.
Wassili Safonoff, the new conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra, New York City, will teach at the National Conservatory, giving special attention to interpretation for pianists who wish to play in public. He will also conduct the Conservatory Orchestra.
Eugen D’Albert is to give five historic concerts in Berlin this season. The first to present works by Mozart, the second to seven Beethoven Sonatas, the third to works by Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann, the fourth by Chopin and Liszt, the fifth by Brahms and composers of the present time.
Magdeburg Cathedral is to have a new organ; three manuals, 27 stops in the great organ, 24 in the swell, the same number in the choir, with 25 in the pedal, 100 in all. This organ will rank in size with those in the Cathedral at Berlin, the Nikolaikirche in Hamburg, and the Minster at Ulm.
The Chicago Madrigal Club closed its competition for the W. W. Kimball Co. prize of $100 for the best choral setting of Allan Cunningham’s poem, “A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea.” Mr. Franz C. Bornschein, of Baltimore, Md., was the winner. The club is directed by Mr. D. W. Clippinger.
