AT HOME.
The death is recorded of Charles F. Tretbar, former treasurer of Steinway & Sons.
David Bispham made over 150 appearances last season.
Mr. Kroeger’s Summer School, at St. Louis, Mo., offers an attractive course of study.
Chadwick’s “Noel” was performed, for the first time, at Norfolk, Conn., recently.
Harold Bauer is coming to America again next year to complete another tour.
Marguerite Sylva has been engaged to sing at the Manhattan Opera.
Pol Plançon will make his re-appearance at the Metropolitan next year.
There have been 1,200 students at the Peabody School in Baltimore during the past season.
The reorganized Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has now made the acquaintance of its new conductor. Leopold Stokowski reached the city early in June.
It is stated that the salary list for the coming season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York will amount to $2,000,000.
The North Shore Festival at Chicago proved to be a pronounced success. Dean Lutkin was the musical director, and was responsible for the inception of the idea.
Hammerstein has definitely announced his intention of producing educational opera at popular prices. The twenty-seven principals have been chosen, and the season will commence August 30th, at the Manhattan Opera House.
Pinsuti’s opera season at the New York Academy of Music has secured sufficient financial backing to commence operations. The venture promises to be interesting.
Cesar Thomson, principal violin instructor of the Brussels Royal Conservatory, will make his appearance in America next season. It is fifteen years since his last visit.
Two operas will be heard at the Metropolitan, for the first time in New York: Ferrari’s “Le Donne Curiose,” and Tschaikowski’s “La Dame de Pique.”
It is said that a bust of Smetana, the Bohemian composer, is to be placed in Central Park, New York. His “Bartered Bride” was a great success at the Metropolitan last season.
By an electrical process sap can be driven out of wood and its place taken by a solution of borax and resin. It is claimed that by this process violins can be artificially “aged.”
The convention of the New York State Teachers’ Association, which recently took place in New York City, was a success in every way. The reports both of the president and of the treasurer were of a gratifying kind.
Mr. Ernest Consolo, who has been a successful pianoforte teacher in Chicago, has decided to return to live in Europe, and after a short stay in Switzerland will take up his residence in Milan. He has made many friends and admirers during his stay in America.
It is a matter for general congratulation that an American opera by an American composer has been accepted for production at the Royal Opera, Berlin. Mr. Arthur Nevin, of Pittsburg, has had his opera “Poia” thus distinguished. The opera deals with the love of Poia, a young Indian of the Blackfeet Tribe, for Natoya. Many of the musical themes selected were adopted by Mr. Nevin from the folk music of the Blackfeet. His librettist, Mr. Walter McClintock, has made a special study of the tribe, as the result of his experiences when he went to Montana with a Government expedition sent out by the Bureau of Forestry. Mr. Nevin is a brother of the well-known composer of “The Rosary.” and has been a resident for some time in Berlin. Latterly, however, he has been back in this country. Those who believe that the national note in American music will be achieved by means of the Indian folk-songs will now have an opportunity of testing the practical utility of this music when placed before a European audience, of the most critical kind, who will have no particular bias in its favor.
The German Sangerfest in New York has proved to be an unqualified success. In this contest the great German male voice singing societies competed for the prize offered by the German Kaiser. The contests were mostly all held in Madison Square Garden, which provided an interesting and historic scene, gaily decorated as it was with the German and American colors. The president of the Sangerfest was Theodor Henninger, and the judges were Gustav Wohlgemuth, Leipzig Royal Professor, Max Meyer Olbersleben and others. Count von Bernsdorf, the German Ambassador to the United States, delivered a message from the Kaiser. Among the soloists were Mme. Rider-Kelsey, Schumann-Heink and Claude Cunninghame. There was an orchestra of about 150; and the massed chorus consisted of 5,000 men. Both chorus and orchestra were conducted by Julius Lorenz and Carl Hein.
Camille W. Zeckwer’s charming and brilliant cantata “The Goddess of Liberty” was given on the evening of June 29th at Willow Grove Park. The work was given by the Theodore Thomas Orchestra of Chicago and the Strawbridge & Clothier Choral Society of Philadelphia. The latter society has been in existence for many years and is composed of the employees of one of Philadelphia’s representative department stores. On the afternoon of the same day it rendered Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” The society is an indication of the high intelligence demanded by the thoughtful employers of our day. The cantata was received with a veritable ovation. It is patriotic throughout, but has little of the clap-trap that might mar such a work. The cantata is excellently adapted to small choral societies as well as for large societies planning celebrations of a patriotic nature, and will doubtless be heard in many parts of the country next season.
ABROAD.
At a recent concert in Paris, Kubelik was recalled thirty times.
Auguste Durand, head of the firm of II. Durand & Son, Paris, the well-known publishing house, died a short time ago.
Marion Weed, an American soprano who has appeared at the Metropolitan, has signed a five years’ contract for appearance in the leading roles at the opera house in Hanover, Germany.
It is rumored that a new Wagner Theatre will be built at Vienna, under the control of Gustav Mahler.
Mme. Wagner has recovered sufficiently to be able to assume control of the Bayreuth festival. Her illness has been a serious one, and at one time it was feared that the results would be fatal.
Jacques Delcroze has composed a new three-act opera, entitled “The Youth of Figaro,” from the play by Sardou.
A Leipsic music publishing house has offered Richard Strauss $60,000 for the rights of his new “Sylvia and the Star,” which is described as a comic opera.
The “New Conservatory of Music” in Vienna will open in the autumn. Among its teachers will be the following well-known musicians: Alfred Grünfeld, Franz Ondrieck, Theo. Kretchman and Dr. Richard Batka.
Jan Sibelius has been awarded a pension of 4,200 Marks ($1,050.00) by the State. This may not seem much, but what a mountain it would be to many a struggling young American composer.
The Leipsic Musical Society says that only two thousand out of fifty thousand musicians in Germany make more than $1,000 a year. The highest wages an orchestral player can earn is $37.00 a month.
An Austrian flautist has constructed a bass flute which stands in the same relation to the ordinary flute as the viola does to the violin. The sound is said to be full, rich and of great sweetness.
Marcia von Dresser has achieved a great success at Covent Garden, London, in her portrayal of Sieglinde. The only two Wagner performances in London this season have both been representations of “Die Walküre,” and American singers in both have scored great success singing in German.
Siegfried Wagner, son of Richard Wagner and grandson of Franz Liszt, has just passed his fortieth year.
Massenet, the French composer, states that he never ceases composing in his waking hours, and shapes all his music in his mind before he sets pen to paper. He is 67 years of age, goes to bed at eight, rises at four, works till ten, then reads his letters and receives his friends. He never goes to evening performances.
In the recent wreck of the Cunard liner “Slavonia” on the coast of the Azores, the ship’s orchestra played while the passengers awaited rescue, assisting materially in keeping up the spirits of all on board.
“Elektra,” Strauss’ much discussed opera, has recently been given in München, at the Prinz Regenten Theatre. The theatre is modeled after the Bayreuth plan, but is very much finer. The orchestra is sunken as at Bayreuth, and we are informed, through the German musical press, that the opera was much more effective under these conditions than at any previous performance.
Leoncavallo has just written a new opera, which is to be called “Le Chanson de Marlborough.” The libretto was written by Angelo Nessi, and it is to receive its first performance in Milan during the next season. It is also to be produced in Berlin and Paris during the coming season.
A European paper tells us that Puccini’s latest opera, “The Girl of the Golden West,” is upon a libretto taken from the novel of the famous American novelist Belasco. Mr. John Luther Long, of Philadelphia, wrote the original story. Mr. David Belasco simply prepared it for stage presentation in collaboration with Mr. Long.
The death is recorded of Giuseppe Martucci, who passed away June 1st. He was born at Capua in 1856. He graduated at the Conservatory of Naples, and in 1875 went on tour as a pianist throughout the great cities of Europe. Rubinstein was much impressed with his playing, and also with his compositions, and undertook to direct a performance of Martucci’s concerto in B flat minor. The Italian composer for ten years conducted the performances of the quartetro Napolitano, in which he showed great enterprise. In 1902 he was appointed director of the Naples Conservatory.
The Musical Courier publishes a letter received from Constantinople, which states some interesting facts about the Yildiz Kiosk, the palace of the deposed Sultan. The building is of such huge dimensions that many have dwelt within it from 25 to 33 years without ever having met. It is said that there are 350 grand pianos in the building, and a few uprights. The new Sultan is a pianist himself, and has been a musical patron for some time.
Hofkapellmeister (Court Director) Franz Beidler will introduce the following works in Barcelona next year: “Tristan,” “Meistersinger,” “Walküre,” “Lohengrin,” and “Tiefland.” The works will be given in German.
The Conservatory of Paris will abandon its old quarters shortly. The old building has long since become far too small for the 600 scholars of the institution. The government has secured the building of a former private school, known as “Ecole de la Rue de Madrid,” at a cost of $8,000.
Julius Hey, the noted singing teacher, died recently in Munich at the age of seventy-six. He was born at Irmelschausen, Lower Franconia, and at first studied painting. He then became a pupil of Lachner in counterpoint and harmony, and of Schmitt in singing. He became an ardent Wagnerite, and taught in the Munich Music School, which was conducted by Von Bülow along lines indicated by Wagner. Wagner considered him “the chief of all singing teachers.” His chief claim to immortality lies in his monumental work upon the art of singing, in which he attempts to give a logical exposition of Wagner’s views upon singing. The work is in four volumes. The work is published in German under the name “Deutsche Gesangsuntericht.” and is probably the most voluminous treatise upon singing in existence.
