7 6 TH E ETUD E A BERLIN composer has arranged a musical liturgy to be used in cremation services. ARTHUR FRIEDHEIM has been secured as a teacher by the Director of the Chicago Musical College. THE College of Music of Cincinnati has added to the curriculum a course of lectures on the vocal organs. WAGNER'S " Meistersinger " has been given in La Scala, Milan. Shades of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bel-lini! THE third generation of the Strauss family has written an operetta called " Cat and Mouse." It was well re-ceived. THE mental trouble which clouded the last years of Robert Schumann's life-descended to his son, who died recently in a private asylum in Germany. THE Brussels Conservatoire will soon print a catalogue of its musical library, which contains over 12,000 vol-umes, including some 800 orchestral scores. FRA U COSIMA WAGNER , th e wido w o f th e great com -poser, is reported ill of pneumonia at Vienna, although later advices indicate that she will recover. COUNT GEZA ZICHY , th e one-arme d pianist, has me t with success in composition. His opera 44 Meister Roland " has been put on the boards at Budapest. VERDI wrote to A friend that the four sacred pieces brought out last year would form his last work in the way of composition, and that he had 44 nothing further to say." AMALIE JOACHIM, wife of the great violinist, died during the past month. She was at one time a popular operatic and concert singer. She visited the United States in 1893. AN English firm of piano-makers has put on the market a grand piano with the bent side on the left of the instrument, so as to suit rooms which are not adapted to the usual shape. IT has been discovered that the original home of Bee-thoven's ancestors was Mecheln, and that Antwerp and the vicinity are full of Beethoven's, just as Germany has many Schillers and Wagners. MASCAGNI has been made Director of the Rossini Conservatory at Pesaro, Italy. The great composer left $600,000 to the city, his birthplace, and the conserva-tory was erected as a memorial. MR . HENR Y E . KREHBIEL, th e well-know n criti c and writer, has prepared exhaustive analyses and anno-tations for the programs of Emil Sauer. They are ex-ceedingly valuable to students. EMILIEN PACINI, who died a short time ago in Paris, at the age of eighty-seven, was an intimate friend of Rossini and Meyerbeer. He translated 44 Der Frei-schiitz " from German into French. A NEW YORK paper says that Josef Hofmann receives but about one per cent, of the money he earns, his father retaining the remainder. He must be as little of a business man as he is great as a pianist. WHEN Mascagni's 44Cavalleria Rusticana " was first brought out, the prices were $1.25 for orchestra seats, $5.00 for boxes. When his last work was given the prices at the first-night performance were $10 and $125. 44 WERNER' S MAGAZIN E " fo r Februar y contain s a n interesting interview with Mr. H. W. Greene, editor of the Vocal Department of THE ETUDE, one of a series of articles on the leading vocal teachers of New York City. RACHMANINOFF, the Russian composer, is to give concerts in England. Grieg met with great success in his tour in England last year, and other composers, no doubt, find it advantageous to make these playing tours. A TRAVELER recently returned from the Orient says, 44 The women in the highest circles of Japan are ex-tremely fond of the piano, and this instrument, almost always of American make, is found in nearly every house." BY a recent decision of the highest court of Austria, Brahms' last will is held to be invalid, as the composer had neglected to put his signature to it. This will gave the bulk of his property to the Vienna Society of the Friends of Music. 44 HARPER'S WEEKLY " will contain a music depart-ment, under the editorial supervision of Mr. E.Irenseus Stevenson, who has hitherto looked after that depart-ment for 44 The Independent," occasionally contributing to the former journal. AN English inventor has taken out a patent for a mechanism which can be attached to the action of a piano, and, by shifting it to either side of the wires, which remain stationary, makes it possible to transpose music higher or lower. A YOUNG French 'cellist, Paul Bazelaine, twelve years old, was well received in Berlin. The critics acknowledge his talent, but advise that he be kept away from the concert stage for several years, like Jean Ger-ardy, the famous young 'cellist. ONE of the Abbe Perosi's oratorios, which have been so enthusiastically received in Italy, is to be given at the next Norwich, Eng., festival. Some of our Ameri-can choral societies should get copies of 4 4 The Passion of Christ " for use in the festivals next fall. AN execution was issued by the Sheriff of Queens County, N. Y., against The Virgil Practice Clavier Com-pany. While the clavier sold largely in schools and other institutions of music, public opinion was divided. The concern is understood to be heavily indebted. PROFESSOR H . W . PARKER , o f Yal e University , raised quite a storm in church and choir circles by his recent strong condemnation of the new Episcopal hym-nal. 44 The ancient tunes are dry, but they keep well," he said. 44 The modern tunes are not dry, but they fail to keep." SOME musical artists are rich in names. According to one of our exchanges, Marcella Sembrich's family name is Kochanski. She was born in 1858. Later, she took her mother's name, Sembrich. Her husband's name is Stengel, and in Italy she is known by the name of Bosio. THE Boston Commission on Municipal Music has ob-tained the use of certain of the city school-houses. Con-certs of chamber music, both instrumental and vocal, will be given at an admission price of ten and fifteen cents. 44 Coon songs "wil l be barred. These concerts will be given on Sunday evenings. AN interesting note comes from England. According to the original agreement between Mendelssohn and Novello, the music publisher, the composer was to have 62J cents for every copy of Book I of the now familiar 44 Songs Without Words." Forty-eight copies were sold in the first ten months, 114 in four years. THE Concorde Concert Control, 185 Wardour Street, London, England, announces that a company is to be formed for the purpose of promoting a permanent opera in London. The operas will be produced in English. Composers of every nationality are invited to forward operas, with pianoforte score, to the above address, for examination. THE London correspondent of a New York paper says that Paderewski has bought an estate in Galicia, close to the Russian border. It is hoped that the climate and out door life may result in physical benefit to the pianist's crippled son, who has never had the use of his arms or legs. Paderewski is passionately devoted to his boy, who is now seventeen years old. GOLDMARK, now past his seventieth year, has written an opera on the old Grecian story *of Achilles and Briseis as told by Homer, with, of course, certain alterations and additions to adapt it to the exigencies of the music drama. It is said that Goldmark, like Verdi, has shown himself amenable to modern methods in composition, and revealed himself still the master. CLARENCE EDDY, the organist, is now in this coun-try giving a series of recitals. He has issued a small pamphlet, giving specimen programs with full anno-tations concerning the composers represented and their works. Mr. Eddy has transferred his residence to Paris for several years, although he will visit the United States for concert tours every year. VICTOR HERBERT has been reelected conductor of the Pittsburg Orchestra for the season of 1899-1900. At a meeting of the directors held last week Mr. Herbert was warmly complimented on the success of the season now closing. The orchestra season of 1899-1900 will extend over twenty weeks, comprising thirty-six con-certs. The orchestra will consist of seventy-two mem-bers, as at present. THE latest report is that Jean de Reszke and his friends have abandoned the opera project. Instead a conservatory is to be built, of which he will be the ab-solute head, superintending the work of teachers and pupils. A small theater is to be attached in order that students may have practical drill in stage work. Such a school, with the prestige of the director, should prove successful in attracting pupils. ACCORDING to an old print recently found in Riga, Richard Wagner, when capellmeister at that place, in-vited the public to his benefit performance of 44 Norma," December 11,1837. He writes of Bellini's opera as music that speaks to the heart, as genuine inspiration, free from modern platitudes, rich in melodies marked by real passion and profound truth. How such a find must shock some of his enthusiastic votaries ! A TRAVELER in Russia reports attending a service in a celebrated monastery in which the pure Gregorian chant has been preserved. During the processional the keynote was given to the singers, who then sang for eleven minutes without the organ. At the end of that time the organ again took up the chant, the singers not having varied from the original pitch. To sing false is held to be a sin, and must be atoned for by penance. MAURICE GRAU, the opera impressario, made a com-parison of the cost of grand opera between New York and London. While the Metropolitan Opera House has about double the seating capacity of Covent Garden, in London, the cost of production in the latter city is only about one-half what it is in New York. The chief singers receive for their work one-half what they get in the United States, while the pay of the others varies from forty to sixty per cent. less. PADEREWSKI is reported to have said : 441 am not so young as once I was, and I see clearly that, no matter how assiduously I practice, my fingers will soon not be entirely so supple as they were at one time. Of course, the older one grows, the more stiff one's joints become, and I have thought it advisable to cease playing in public while my reputation is still at its height, instead of waiting until the public and the critics find cause to remind me that I have lost somewhat of my skill and deftness." THE fact that efforts are being made in a number of cities to organize symphony orchestras suggests the idea that more young men and—shall we say it?—young women should devote time to the study of orchestral instruments. A piano teacher who can also play clario-net, oboe, flute, bassoon, or horn can add very materially to his income, and this would be much more the case if a demand arises for competent orchestral players. It is not right that we should be obliged to import players for all our orchestras, but such will be the case so long as our young musicians will not learn to play these instruments.
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