Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-22


the single tones, as separately struck, are
merged into a continuous body of tone
tone that is mobile and plastic that Gibbs
ana flows and whose crystalline distinct
ness is appropriately enforced and enrich ed,
but never clouded, by 4 spariug use of the
damper pedal. This is the quintessence of
good piano-playingI from the technical stand
point.
From the higher standpoint, where the head
andth heart come most in view, Mr.. Rum
meps playing is strongly stimulating and at the
same time wholly satisfying. Il is the work of
man of intellect, serious. earnest student;
II is also the outflow of an intense emotional
nature, richly responsive throughout the
whole gamut of human feeling. If he does
occasionally force a climax beyond the true
limits of his instrument-and Two or three such
instances form tie only openings for adverse,
cold-blooded criticism of Wednesdays per-
formance-that could not disturb those hearers
whose hearts, like his own, were full
unto bursting. In all he does, Mr.. Rummel
evinces the utmost artistic sincerity; he sinks
himself in the composer and his style is never
affected or trivial-it is, indeed, distinctiyely
heroic.
1t were useless to discuss at length the man.
ner in which these various qualities were dis
played by the player in each of the selections
chosen, which are mostly well known. As Mr..
Rummel on his former appearance a
d zen wears ago was open to the charge
Of being too much given to the
braYura style, i may be here said. however,
that he brought out the dainty charms of the
the Beethoven adagio, the lofty, elegiac
beauty OF the trio in the funeral march
and the rippling gracefulness of the Raft NOR
cean, quite as admirably as he did the intensely
dramatic significance of either sonato or the
uirile, passionate vitality which few but
he could have got out OF Liszts
big. brilliant taTantelle. One other
point calls for special mention: that brief
turbulent presto which, in the hands of other
famous pianists seems so insufficient an ending
to the Chopin sonata-like meaningless
etude. in fact-assumed in Mr.. Rumners
hanus totally new significance and
instantly sprang into full kinship with the pre-
cedinG portions of that great yearnlng, strug-
ling epic of human woe and divine aspiration.
This was, in very truth, revelation.
There is no pianist on this continent whom
Pttsburg could have reason to welcome here
for her great festival SO heartily as Franz
RummeL
-
The Frohsinn Concert Last Week.
1t must have been indeed gratifying to the
managers of the Frohsinn Singing Society last
Thursday evening to see the large and enthusi-
astic audience that filed Old City Hall, as well
with their plaudits as their persons, on the oc.
Casion of that veteran society's first public ap-
pearance for number of years. The singers
were all Germans, in descent as least; the
audience was mostly such; SO we're all the COM
posers; the singing was all in that language,
which. also, filled the greater part of the ha1d-
imported from the Naterland. The entire
occasion served in signal manner
to emphasize the value and Importance
of the great Teutonic element to which in this
as in all other American communities, SO much
of our musical activity is more or less directly
TO be traced.
With its new director, its new chorus of wo.
men and its new policy of aggressive public
work. Pittsburg's oldest and foremost male
chorus stands on the threshold of an era of in
creasing usefulness that bids fair to cast in the
shade the by no means insignificant achieve
ments Of the past 30 years. Thursday evenings
programme began with two Beethoven num-
bers, the "Egmont" overture and the trio
from "FIdelIo'-the former played by the
specially organized orchestra of q men.
AMP the latter sung by Miss Agnes
NOgel, Mr.. Karl Ahl and Mr.. Ernest Staub.
The first number that the present writer was
IL time TO hear was the "Meistersinger" prize
song IN Wilhelmj's violin arrangement which
was played by Mr.. Leo Oehmler with pure,
tnough rather thin, tone, and with considera-
Die taste, though greater intensity OF feeling
might well have been bestowed upon that love-
~ passionate melody. A concert etude by
DaVld further served to reveal MI. Oehmlers
excellent control of his bow, despite its lack OF
lnuslcat interest. Mr.. Karl Ali, Frohsinn's
ne" conductor made his Pittsburg debut as
Tenor solUlst in the meludious aria of Don Oc-
t0ut0. from Mozart's Don Juan" Mr.. ALL
proNeC 10 be the possessor of q voice pure, rich
anu sMeet III quality, though not of notable
strength or, seemingly, of very extended COM
pass. he sang with much taste and vocalized
nicely; under less embarrassing circumstances
more of that emotional signiticance which |
came out later IN his conducting. His encore |
piece. Jensen's "Lehn define Wang auf meine |
Wang" especially, suffered from this lack of |
deep feeling.
Ia Mendelssohn's noble setting of Schiller's |
Festival Ode TO the Artists" the male chorus |
sang with spirit ealnes:ness and considerable |
precision. The quality of. tone produced was, |
however, rot the best and many false intona. |
Iions were heard from the middle voices as |
well as from the bass instruments accompany
ing Thefe was abundant evidence of careful |
drilling and of just, broad conception of the |
work on the part OF Conductor AhI who showed |
himself throughout the evening to be the right |
man for the place, clearly CAPABLE of leading |
Che singers on to yet greater accomplishment
The remainder OF the evening was devoted to |