Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-05-07
A NOTABLE ORCHESTRA.
The Remarkable Organization Which Hans
Won BulOw Effected ut Meiningen.


Won Bulow Effected at Meiningen
Hans Won Buiow is reported to have
resigned his appointment at kappel-
meister to that eminent patron of the
arts, the duke of SAKE -Meiningen, in
order to resume his piano concerts.
He does not leave Meiningen, however,
without having accomplished an ex.
traordinary work. Says Edouard
Hanslick, the famous Vienna critic;
Through Bulow the Meiningen or
chestra has become a prominent fact,
analogous to the Meiningen theater,
which, without any great stars, has
created such an extraordinary sensa-
ton everywhere by its wonderful en-
semble. In its precision down to the
smallest detail. the Meiningen orches-
ira is unsurpassed, we might say une-
qualed, by any orchestra in the world.
The Meiningers will not find many
imitators of the way in which they
play the accomplishments to Brahms
ID minor concerto-more like great
symphony than an accompaniment
without q conductor, while Bulow
plays the piano part. A still more as
founding performance Is that of the
terrible fugue from Beethoven's quar-
tet, OPP. 1873, faultlessly played by all
the strings-a wilderness of sound,
which puts the best quartet players on
their mettle. This is virtuoso piece,
no doubt, and very enjoyable one,
too, but band that can play 1t fault
lessly may challenge the most power
full opponents.
Where the Meiningcrs are not able
to compete with our Philharmonic
band is In beauty and fullness of tone,
in the glowing warmth and tempera-
ment of execution, and in the brilliant
effect which numbers give. But we
must not forget that Bulow's orches-
ira counts only forty-eight members
whilst our Philharmonic has from
eighty to ninety. Then again
the quality Of the instruments may
account for the fact that the Meiningers
are wanting in that intense brilliancy
and warm coloring which distinguish
our Philharmonic orchestra. Bulow's
fddlers are frst-rate musicians, but
they have got the tremendous go of
the Viennese; the double-basses and
Lrombones are capital, the oboes often
harsh and shrill, the clarionets and
horns good, though not equal to the
Viennese masters of these instruments.
A good Judge will appreciate all the
more the effects which Bulow manages
TO make (by reserve and concentra-
tion) with his comparatively small
orchestra in passages such as the
finale of the G minor symphony and
the "Freischuetz" overture.
Bulow, with his spirit of discovery
and experiment, has also introduced
effective innovations into his orches-
ira never thought of by other conduc-
tors. For instance, the fve-stringed
double-basses which give the low G.
while the usual four-stringed ones
only go down to E; then the so-called
"Ritter tenor violas," which, being of
the stronger build than the usual vio-
las, surpass these in fullness of tone
and so lessen the too great contrast
between this class of fiddles and vio-
loncellos; finally, the ,hromatic drums,
which can be tuned by pedal while
playing. Another mucb-discussed in
novation of Bulow's, which seems to
as of doubtful good, Is that his band
plays standing. This Is In fact going
back to an older custom, which NAV
be- ascribed to the small space at
former amateur concerts, or to the ETH
quette of courts. The sitting posture
Of the players at orchestral concerts
was probably first introduced in Wen
IA; at least, In 1874, Dittersdorf
(bandmaster to the bishop of Gross
wardien) in his autobiography writes:
II had long benches and desks made
and introduced the Viennese method
of playing sitting, and arranged tho
orchestra In such q manner that every
player faced the audience. -Philadel-
phia Times.