The Ohio State Music Teachers’ Association meets at Granville, June 10th to 21st, under the auspices of Denison University.
The American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists and Guitarists held its sixth annual convention in March at Philadelphia.
Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” has been arranged as a stage play by some English society. The music is to consist of Psalm tunes.
The Brahms Memorial in Vienna is to have a place in Ressel Park, in front of the building of the Society of the Friends of Music.
The new organist of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Mr. Charles Heinroth, of New York City, will not begin his engagement until next October.
A Polish composer, Felix Nowowiejski, has written a sacred drama, “Quo Vadis,” for solo voices, chorus, orchestra and organ. It is in five scenes.
The Illinois Music Teachers’ Association meets at Rock Island this year, the first week in June. The Thomas Orchestra is to be present and assist at some of the concerts.
Heinrich Conreid, so says a New York paper, has made arrangements for ten performances of Strauss’ “Salome” next fall before the regular New York opera season opens.
An Orlando Gibbons Festival will be given in Westminster Abbey, London, in June. Gibbons was a noted composer of the old English school and organist of the Abbey in 1623.
Emil Pauer has been re-engaged as conductor of the Pittsburg Orchestra for three years at an annual salary of $12,000. The past season was the most successful one in the history of the Orchestra.
A performance of Surrette’s operetta “Priscilla” was given at the Carlisle Indian School last month, by pupils of the school. The band, made up of pupils of the school, has quite a reputation in Pennsylvania.
Berlin despatches say that the Emperor William has consented to allow Dr. Muck to remain in the United States for another season inasmuch as the Boston Symphony Orchestra is not organized and maintained for profit but purely for musical culture.
A Music Supervisors’ Conference was held at Keokuk, Ia., April 10-12, under the presidency of Hamlin E. Cogswell, of Indiana, Pa. Mr. P. C. Hayden, of Keokuk, was the organizer of the meeting. The discussions were on topics connected with musical work in the public schools.
At a concert in Glasgow the orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Frederic H. Cowen, gave a humorous musical skit by Mozart called “The Village Symphony.” To make the affair more realistic players and conductor wore wigs and false noses, and costumes of the time represented by the music.
Otto Hegner, the pianist, died February 27th, at Hamburg, aged 30 years. He was a pupil of Hans Huber, and appeared as a youthful prodigy, visiting the United States. In 1904 he was a teacher in the Hoch Conservatory, at Frankfort. The last few years he occupied a similar position in the Hamburg Conservatory.
The Philadelphia Orchestra season had a deficit of nearly $42,000, which is more than covered by the subscriptions of the guarantors. No successor to Mr. Scheel has yet been selected, but a conductor of high reputation will be engaged for the next season, when it is hoped to continue the development of the past years.
Mrs. Thomas Nelson Page, of Washington, D. C., wife of the eminent American novelist, has given $50,000 to the Orchestral Association of Chicago, the income to be applied for the use of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. Mrs. Page formerly lived in Chicago and has been a generous contributor to the Orchestra from the time of its organization.
Handel’s oratorio “Belshazzar” was given in Boston, March 31st, by the Handel and Haydn Society. This is probably the first performance in the United States, as the oratorio is not in the repertoire of standard oratorios. The revisions and additions required to adapt the orchestral score to modern use were made by Mr. Arthur Thayer, who was true to the Handelian spirit.
Sir August Manns, the distinguished English conductor, who died in March, was in charge of the concerts at the Crystal Palace from 1855 to within a few years of his death. He was also conductor of the Handel Festival from 1883 to 1900. He was always friendly to English composers. He had reached the ripe age eighty-two years, lacking one week, at the time he (sic)
The Carnegie Institute of Greater Pittsburgh, which was enlarged recently, was dedicated last month with appropriate exercises, in which the musical forces and interests of the city were represented. Mr. Carnegie, who gave $5,000,000 to the institute to enlarge it, made an address. Sir Edward Elgar was present, and conducted the Pittsburgh Orchestra in several of his own compositions.
Maurice Grau, the noted impresario, died near Paris, March 14th. He was born in Austria, but was brought to the United States as a boy. His first experience in musical management was as a member of the firm of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau in 1882. In 1897 he organized the Grau Opera Company, which controlled the performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until 1903, when Mr. Grau retired from active work.
French church organists and all employees connected with the choirs, who now find themselves threatened with the loss of their employment, owing to the new laws separating Church and State, have formed an association under the leadership of M. Dubois, formerly the organist of the Madeleine, and are going to send a formal protest to M. Briand and the French officials because of the difficult position created for them. As much as $4,000 a year was spent by some of the parish churches of Paris for the maintenance and support of their choirs, and this money was mainly paid from the funds of the “Fabriques.” Now that these administrative bodies have been suppressed and their funds seized, it is a serious problem how the church choirs in France will be maintained.
The Violin Collection of Dr. Charles John Oldham, of Brighton, England, was notable for a quartet of Stradivarius instruments, a “Strad” known as the “Tuscan” and some other violins for which he paid large sums. The quartet, by the will of the Doctor, who died lately, goes to the British Museum with the direction that it be kept undivided. The “Tuscan” Strad is to be offered for sale at $17,500, failing to secure which the executors are to turn it also over to the Museum. An English paper commenting on the above contrasts the disposition of these fine instruments with the willingness of other owners of valuable Cremonas to place them in the hands of great artists so that the public has a chance to hear them. It is regrettable that every year sees one or more of these gems of the maker’s art retired from use.
The Vienna Male Choir, popularly known as the “Millionaires’ Chorus” on account of the wealth of many of its members, will be in the United States this month. A feature of the visit will be a concert in the East Room of the White House on May 6th, which is to be the first appearance of the choir in this country. The members have chartered a steamer for the voyage, and will use a special train while in the United States. The number of singers will be about 200. During the trip they will sing in New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The return trio to Europe will be made May 17th. The club was established in 1843, the earnings from concerts being devoted to charitable purposes, the total amount thus raised being upward of $150,000. Many foreign countries have been visited, Germany, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Egypt. The directors are Edward Kremser and Richard Heuberger.
Mrs. Clara Gottschalk Peterson, of Asbury Park, N. J., has presented to the City of New Orleans a number of interesting mementos of her brother, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the celebrated American pianist. Among the collection is a bust in marble, made by Francheschi, a distinguished Italian sculptor, a few years after the pianist’s death. The artist was aided in his work by a fine plaster bust made a few years before Gottschalk’s death, and by a number of photographs. When completed the bust, which was life size, was sent to the United States and placed in Chickering Hall, New York, where it stood until the building was sold, when it passed into Mrs. Peterson’s possession. The bust is to be placed in the new Public Library in New Orleans. Some of the other relics are a jeweled silver wreath, letters, programs, photographs, lithograph portraits, etc. Mr. W. L. Hawes, of New Orleans, was active in securing these precious mementos of Gottschalk for his native city.
