Mascagni is reported to be coming this autumn to conduct the American premiere of “Piccolo Marat.” Six performances will be given in Brooklyn and a two weeks’ season at the Manhattan Opera House. Nine creators of leading roles of “Piccolo Marat” will accompany Mascagni from Italy.
The $1000 Prize offered by W. A. Clark, Jr., of Los Angeles, for an American orchestral composition has not been awarded, because a committee of judges, of international reputation, deemed that no work submitted was “of substance justifying the bestowing of a prize.” This is surely an evidence of high standards for a Symphony or Symphonic Poem that will be acceptable. The competition remains open, with the date of submission of manuscripts advanced to May 1, 1925.
Max Pauer, director of the High School of Music of Stuttgart, has become the Director of the Conservatory of Leipsig.
A “Bach Society” has been organized at Geneva, Switzerland, with the design of interpreting each year some of the one hundred and ninety-nine sacred cantatas of Bach. Of these only about ten are commonly known, the others remaining in libraries. The first performance, consisting of two cantatas and a Sanctus, will be given in the Church of Saint- Gervais.
Three Prizes, Aggregating $1400, are offered by B. Schott’s Sons, for the best “Concertos in Chamber Style” for one or more solo-instruments with accompaniment. Manuscripts, bearing a nom de plume, must be received before December first, by B. Schott’s Sons, Mayence, Germany, from whom further particulars may be had.
The American Orchestral Society, of New York, which has been doing such noteworthy work in the training of young orchestral players, and of which Mrs. E. H. Harriman has been such a liberal sponsor, is planning to perpetuate its work by enlisting the interests of classes of “Sustaining” and “Associate” members. The Society Orchestra, during the past season, completed the study of thirty-five major orchestral works, gave ten programs before music-loving children of the public schools and placed seven of its graduates in leading symphony orchestras.
Motion Picture Theaters are obliged, by a decision of Judge J. Whitiker Thompson of the Federal Court of Philadelphia, to pay the publishers, who are members of the Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, an annual fee amounting to ten cents for each seat in any theater using compositions copyrighted and issued by these publishers. The Etude and its publishers have not as yet joined with this group; and, therefore, compositions published in The Etude or by the Theodore Presser Company may be played in the motion picture theaters without fee, until further notice.
A Quarter-Tone Piano has had a demonstration at Brunswick, Germany, by the inventor, before a large group of that country’s musical critics. At present the inventor advises the introduction of these quarter-tones only for special melancholy effects, till the ear has become accustomed to their use. The difficulty of keeping the delicately adjusted mechanism in tune is still a deterrent from the general adoption of the instrument.
The $1000 Prize of the Chicago North Shore Festival Association, for the best orchestral work by an American citizen, is offered again this year. Particulars may be had from Carl P. Kinsey, 624 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago.
Cecil James Sharp, widely known as an authority on English Folk Song and Dance, and who spent a considerable time in research along this line, in the Appalachian Regions of the United States, more especially in eastern Kentucky, died recently at his home in London, at the age of sixty-four.
Paderewski has been decorated by King Albert of Belgium, with the Order of Leopold, carrying with it the rank of Grand Commander. the highest of similar honors within the gift of Belgium. During their stay in Brussels, the pianist and Mme. Paderewski were the guests of the monarch at the royal palace; and at the concert given during their visit Mme. Paderewski sat at the right of the King in the royal box.
One Hundred “Fellowships” of $1000 Each, for the study of Singing, Piano, Bow- Instruments, and Composition, are offered by the Juilliard Foundation. Particulars may be had by addressing the Secretary at 49 East Fifty-Second Street New York. Studios and teachers for the successful entrants will be provided in New York by the Foundation.
The National Association of Organists met for its seventeenth Annual Convention, at Atlantic City, July 28 to August 1, Questions pertaining to the Organist’s profession were discussed by leading authorities, recitals being given by well-known members of the American Guild of Organists, The American Organ Players’ Club, The Canadian College of Organists, and the Society of Theater Organists.
Ferruccio Busoni eminent Italian pianist and composer died in Berlin, July 27th, at the age of fifty-eight. From 1907 to 1913 Busoni was teacher of composition in the conservatory at Vienna; and since 1920 had been at the head of the composition department of the Academy of Arts of Berlin. He will be best remembered for his devotion to the works of Bach of which he was the greatest transcriber and interpreter, among pianists.
Gustav Herzberg, for fifty-three years the Philadelphia representative of the Kranich and Bach piano, a record unsurpassed in this line, in America, died recently at the age of eighty-eight. In his youth he was a pupil of Mendelssohn.
Toti Dal Monti, the young coloratura soprano from the La Scala of Milan, who has been singing with such success with the Melba Opera Company on its Australian tour, will be heard in the leading opera houses of the United States during the coming season.
Louis Victor Saar has been awarded the one hundred dollar prize offered by the Swift & Company Male Chorus for the best musical setting of “The Singers” by Longfellow or “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” by Shakespeare-Mr. Saar choosing the Longfellow poem for his composition.
“A New Patti” is the verdict of the London Daily News, on the debut of the young American coloratura soprano, Dusolina Giannini of Philadelphia. A curious coincidence is that the youthful cantatrice made her initial bow to “dear old London” on the forty-fourth anniversary of the first appearance before “our cousins” of Mme. Marcella Sembrich who has been her musical godmother.
An Annual Prize of One Hundred Dollars is offered by the Rubinstein Club of Washington, D. C. The competition is open to composers living south of the Mason and Dixon Line, and is for a composition for Women’s voices. Address Mrs. R. H. Dalgleish, President Rubinstein Club.
The American Institute of Operatic Art, founded by Max Rabinoff, has progressed to where its cornerstone was laid July 15th, at Stony Point, New York, on the 145th anniversary of the battle fought by General “Mad Anthony” Wayne at that place in the Revolutionary War. The School is planned with the purpose of giving to young American singers the training in repertoire and routine necessary to entering upon an operatic career. The general idea is to make of the enterprise a center of American operatic art for singers, composers, dancers, scenic artists and all who have to do with operatic production.
Nightingales in a Surrey Wood have been induced to sing by sounding on a ‘cello notes resembling those with which they begin their song. A sensitive microphone and amplifier transmitted the notes to a London station, from which they were broadcasted throughout England.
Felix Weingartner, until a short time ago the director of the Vienna Volksoper, is reported to have accepted a similar position at the Deutches Opernhaus of Berlin.
Johann Heinrich Beck, noted composer and violinist of Cleveland, Ohio, died May 26th. Born at Cleveland in 1856, he was a pupil of Schradieck, Hermann, Richter, Paul, Reinecke and Jadassohn. He had served as conductor of both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. His symphonic poems have been played by many of the foremost concert orchestras of America.
“Belshazzar,” in a scenic production, is to be the principal attraction at the Handel Festival to be held in September at Leipsig.
Mme. Frida de Gebele Ashforth, well known as an operatic contralto in the sixth decade of the last century, and later the teacher of Geraldine Farrar, Lucy Gates, Bessie Abbott and Sophie Braslau, died in New York on July 21st.
The “Silver Jubilee” of Spokane Musical College (Washington), a pioneer in carrying the better type of music into the Great Northwest, was celebrated by a series of important recitals on June 7, 9, and 11. Dr. R. A. Heritage, who founded the institution, still is the enthusiastic moving spirit in all its enterprises.
A William H. Humiston Memorial is planned for the MacDowell Colony of Peterborough. New Hampshire. It is to be in the nature of a building to house the valuable library of the late eminent critic who was a pupil of MacDowell. Contributions are being asked for this purpose-to be sent to the Bankers Trust Company, 25 East 57th Street, New York.
A $1000 Prize for the best Sonata or Suite for Violin and Piano is offered by Mrs. F. S. Coolidge for the annual Berkshire Festival of 1926. The Contest is open till April 1, 1926; and compositions should be sent (anonymously) to Hugo Kortschak, 1054 Lexington Avenue, New York.
The Covent Garden Season, just lately closed, brought forth seventy-nine singers in the various roles; and, of these, twenty were British.
In the Contest for Appearances at the Stadium Concerts of the College of the City of New York, two hundred young artists entered. Of these Ignace Hilsberg, pianist; Miron Poliakin and Benno Rabinoff, violinists; Virginia Rea, coloratura soprano; Frances Paperte, mezzo-soprano; and Frank Johnson, baritone, were successful in winning a place on the programs.
Dr. Frederick Niecks, Emeritus-Professor at Edinburgh University and authority of international reputation for his encyclopedic musical erudition, and especially for his research in matters relating to Schumann’s life and works, died at Edinburgh on June 24, at the age of seventy-nine.
Francesco Berger, contributor of so many inspirational articles to The Etude and other journals, celebrated his ninetieth birthday recently at his home in London.
Madam Jannasch-Shortt, a pioneer teacher of the north-middle states, and for the last forty-eight years the director of the Jannasch-Shortt Musical Institute, died at her home in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on June 25th. One of her most treasured possessions was her complete file of The Etude from 1883.
