The World of Music

Georges Enesco has arrived in America as Guest Conductor of some of our best orchestras, His achievements here have warranted the fine reports that preceded his coming. As conductor of the Lamoureux Orchestra of Paris he has been most successful. He Is one of our most versatile of modern musicians. Fame first came to him as a violinist. He is also a pianist of great ability, and his compositions are acclaimed by the best of critics. Thus he sheds luster on his native Roumania and its poet-queen, Elizabeth (“Carmen Sylva”) who first discovered his talent and made study possible.

Gabrilowitsch’s Fifth Anniversary as conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was recently celebrated by a special Wagner Program at which the directors of the Detroit Symphony Society marked the occasion by the presentation of a huge laurel wreath with the inscription “Ossip Gabrilowitsch, December 28-29, 1917-1922.”

Moriz Rosenthal, famous as one of the world’s master pianists, and especially for his technical skill, is announced for a return tour of America beginning next autumn.

The Chicago Civic Opera season of ten weeks closed January 20th, with a deficit which was intimated to be inside the estimated $350,000.
 

Jean de Reszke celebrated his seventy-third birthday on the 14th of January in his palatial villa at Nice, of the French Riviera, where “The King of Tenors” holds court surrounded by the elite of the artistic and intellectual world. Among his frequent guests are Edward Clement, Reynaldo Hahn, Prince Orloff, the Duke of Connaught and T. P. O’Connor, M. P.

The Southern Music Supervisors’ Conference held its first meeting at the Piedmont Hotel, of Atlanta, Georgia, December 14-16. Their object is to form a “Dixie Auxiliary” to the national body and to supplement its work by endeavoring “to hasten the advancement of music in their midst by localizing their efforts to meet purely Southern difficulties.”

At the Library of the Paris Opera “Closing Time” is now announced by a phonograph using a record of the opera chorus singing the Curfew Air from Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots.” The idea is not new in America—several of our big department stores have for years closed their doors daily with music. We think that Wanamaker started it. Now in Philadelphia the business closes daily with a fifteen-minute recital on “the largest organ in the world.”

Henri Verbrugghen, from latest reports, has been engaged for three years as conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, to begin with the season of 1923-1924.

International Copyright for Composers is to be made possible by a bill introduced into the Senate by Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, which provides that the United States shall become a member of the International Copyright Union. Let us hope that it passes.

The United States Grand Opera Company closed its short life of two weeks by a performance of “Die Walküre,” at Detroit, on December 9th. The failure is charged to lack of popular support.

The Grande Théâtre of Lyons, France, which was destroyed by fire, has been rebuilt with every modern equipment, including a revolving stage, which allows three settings to be prepared at one time. It was recently dedicated by a gala performance of “Carmen.”

Francis Casadesus has resigned as a director of the Fontainebleau School of Music. Paul Vidal, also, has relinquished his post on the staff of the institution. Their places have been filled by Max Dollone and Andre Bloch, respectively, according to reports from Paris.

 

A Carillon of Forty-two Bells, the largest in this country, has been ordered from the famous Croydon, England, foundry. It is to be a gift from John D. Rockefeller to the Park Avenue Baptist Church of New York.

“Tannhauser,” after an absence of eight years, returned to the Metropolitan repertoire, February 1st, with Mme. Jeritza as Elizabeth.

Marcel Dupré and Charles M. Courboin at the organ, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Leopold Stokowski, joined in a gala concert in the grand court of the Wanamaker Store, of Philadelphia, on December 26th, M. Dupré uniting the organ with the orchestra in playing the Second Chorale of César Franck in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth in this month.

Mrs. Edward MacDowell was the victim of a serious automobile accident on January 4th, in which three of her ribs were broken. Though slowly improving, Mrs. Macdowell will be unable to resume her recitals of her husband’s compositions, by which she has supported the Peterborough Colony. Joseph Regneas has headed a list of twenty-five to subscribe one hundred dollars each as a testimonial to Mrs. MacDowell and thus to insure the continuance of her altruistic work. Subscriptions to the fund will be accepted by THE ETUDE and forwarded to the proper authorities.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand, of Bavaria, has played at the second desk of the first violins of the orchestra of every Wagner performance for many festivals at Munich, and has done it for the pure love of the thing.

The Worcester (England) Cathedral Organ has broken down and a piano is being used for the services. The original instrument, built In 1613, cost about $2,000. With the repairs and improvements about to be installed, the present organ will be of about $150,000 value.

Carol Singing has so taken hold of our American celebration of Christmas that this year in more than six hundred towns it had a place in the celebrations of the Yule season.

The Ashes of Theodor Leschetizky are to rest near those of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart and other celebrated musicians and literary men. This is to result from the offer by Vienna of a free plot in the Central Friedhof for the late famous teacher of famous pianists.

Joseph Louis Planel, a violinist and composer from California, has been made an officer of the Legion of Honor by the French Government.

 

A National Association of Bandmasters has been instituted in Rome, with the object of establishing fraternal solidarity among bandmasters, to secure to bandmasters a secure moral, legal and economic position, to promote the love and progress of the bandman’s art, and to cultivate and encourage musical institutions productive of bands.

The Bavarian Männerchor of Buffalo has purchased for $50,000 Braun’s Park, an East Side summer resort, to be its home. With its four acres of lawns this will be remodeled for recreational purposes, with a new club house and pavilion. Here, under Nature’s own canopy of towering pines, will be given a series of open-air concerts in the summer months.

Half a Million Dollars has been given by “A Friend of Music” for the endowment of an opera company for Los Angeles, California.

George Laurie Osgood died recently at his home, at Godalming, England. Mr. Osgood was born April 3, 1844, at Chelsea, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1866, where he studied music and conducted the glee club and orchestra. After three years in Germany and three more with the famous Lamperti in Italy, be returned to America and toured with Theodore Thomas and his famous orchestra. For some twenty years he was a successful teacher and choral conductor in Boston, also composing many well-known songs. His last years were spent in Europe.

The Philharmonic Orchestra of Leipzig is on the verge of dissolution, as the players have struck and refused to play longer under the direction of Its owner, Hans L’Hermet, because of his incompetence. The Musicians’ Union has forbidden its members to play under him, thus preventing his organizing another, according to reports.

$30,000,000 for an Arts and Industries Building is provided in a bill which has passed the Senate and is now before the House of Representatives.

Dr. Herbert Brewer, organist of Gloucester Cathedral and conductor of the Gloucester Festival, has been elected to the position of High Sheriff of the city. In a subsequent service of the cathedral, Dr. Brewer, in his dual office, played in his High Sheriffian robes and chains, with the new Mayor and Council In attendance.

$5,000 (250,000,000 Marks at present exchange rates) was raised at a recent benefit concert given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Wilhelm Gericke, its famous conductor from 1884 to 1889.

A Musical Competition Festival, under the auspices of the Ontario Musical Association, will be held In Toronto from April 30th to May 4th. Choral organizations and choirs of not less than fifty voices, from the United States, are eligible to enter. Particulars by addressing J. S. Atkinson, Secretary, 407 Ryrie Building, 229 Yonge Street, Toronto, Canada. Entries close March 15th.

The University Philharmonic Society, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, gave an orchestral concert on December 11, of which the Symphony in D Major, No. 2, by Haydn, and the Ballet Music from “Faust,” of Gounod, were the leading features.

Ernest Schelling has recently given three unique recitals in New York, consisting entirely of Piano Concertos, accompanied by the New York Symphony Orchestra.

Edward M. Zimmerman, prominent vocal teacher, composer and choirmaster of Philadelphia, died on the ninth of December. He and his talented wife, Marie Kunkle Zimmerman, the soprano, have been influential spirits in the musical life of the Quaker City.

George Hamlin, the distinguished American tenor, passed away at his home, in New York, on January 11th. For years Mr. Hamlin had been a successful singer in concert, opera and oratorio. He made his operatic debut with the Chicago Opera Association in Victor Herbert’s “Natoma,” with Mary Garden in the title role.

Dr. Anselm Goetzl, composer of a number of light operas and principal conductor of the Dippel Light Opera Company, died from the effects of an operation, at Barcelona, Spain, on the 9th of January. A native of Bohemia, some of his most successful professional work was done in America.

Ganna Walska is reported to have bought a controlling interest in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées of Paris. Another feminine Impresario to the fore.

Don Lorenzo Perosi, former master of the Sistine Choir and composer of several oratorios which attained considerable popularity, was recently declared mentally irresponsible and has been enjoined from disposing of his property, in order that his compositions, published and unpublished, may be protected.

Rossini’s “William Tell” was revived at the Metropolitan In New York early In January, after a rest of twenty-eight years. Attacked by the critics as crude and out of date, the audience received it with the greatest enthusiasm.

Ursula Greville, successful British singer and editor of the Sackbut, a musical monthly of London, is on her first visit to the United States and will be with us for several months. Her first New York recital was given at Aeolian Hall, December 9th.

A Levy of 4,000 Marks on a concert ticket and 3,000 Marks on a rehearsal ticket for the famous Gewandhaus Concerts, and of 3,000 Marks for other concerts, has been made in Leipzig. For many European students from countries whose exchange is in much the same state as that of Germany, this makes concert and opera impossible, though for the American the present rate of exchange makes the levy amount to about eight cents.

 

The International Society for Contemporary Music, which was formed last summer in Salzburg, has been endorsed at a meeting of leading musicians in New York. An American section of the society was formed and a committee authorized to draft a constitution. This is a large step toward restoring and strengthening the bonds of interest of the world’s musicians.