New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-14
music.
THE PHILHAKMCNI3 SOCIETY,".

C Culnst0nCe that Mis- Geraldine Morgan had play ed
TIE concerto week before at concert OF the SYM
phOny society. Il cannO: be said that this fOt'
salling Of the purpose Of the Philharmonic society
and Madame vrso worked any harm TO either; on the
contrary, the comparison which thus forced upon
the minds of t. reviewers for the press and other
who heard both performances resulted distinctly 10 the
Disadvantage OF tn earlier performers. There j.
little merit In defeating the Philharmonic socl"ty''
plans to give first performance, for it, lists are pub
Ii-hcd 20 the world months in advance 81 ia" open
Ing Of the season. bat II i, in bad taste for rival
organization 70 do IT, and ~ is shown by tlhs In
stance, unwise. Miss Morgan 1, young player who
il well equipped In respect TO schooling taste aud
intelligence 80 far rs the new concerto Is concerned
she enjoyed great advantage H. having. as we pre-
sumo, studied 1t with Herr Joachim. ~ whom II Is
dedicated. But Nj, Morgan has neither the ripe
ness Of Judgment, the maturity OF feeling nor the
firm command OF the mechanics Of violin playing
possessed by Madame Trso and high deSIce Of these
qualities H. eNacted by the work. especially by
its broad and energetic first movement Madame Cr'o
Last nlght played the work. which despite
its proixity and the rather tavdry character OF the
finale, seems TO fine piece Of music and II
decided acquisition to the limited rcpert0ry % modern
violin music. in II vlrile and artistic manner and dis
played again that feeling Of epose and reserved force
for which she has frequently been .auted In these
columns.
The performance Of this concerto having been an
cipacd has been set forth above it fell out that
both the projected novelties of the evening only
relatively novel. The second, however. offered an
extremely interesting study to the cogno,cent. II
an old friend In somewhat dress. or. 10 be
more exact old friend in lltle less dress than
We have heretofore been accustomed 10. >chnmann :
symphony in D minor WAS played in the form which
it had when IL first came from hi mind. We make
hi, statement the strength of the title page OF the
new edition of The symphony recently published ly
lreitSopf a liacrtel. II is not strictly accurate,
However, ~ i confessed In the preface TO the
written by Fran> Wuclncr. Of Cologne. who edited
ihc work. II Is to bc gathered from this preface that
Herr Wuclncr undertook the reduction Of the work.
the autograph manuscript Of which /, the property Of
brahms, for the purpose of performing II at the
Guerzcnch concert, in Cologne october ~ l,oJ.
The result Of hi, experiment gave 50 much
pleasure to the musicians who heard II that
the publishers decided 10 add 1t u their edition Of
>chumann's complete works. Constituting Herr Wucl
ners words strictly. 1t would seem a. II he hal
performed The work before editing II. but this Is
manifc~ly improbable. That he published whnt might
10y analogy be termed hi, acting edu)n7 i evident
from the fact that in\"ad Of giving TO the world
faithful copy Of Schumann's score Wuener adopted
some features which he recognized ns distinct I'm
provcmcnts from The revised vcrsi) IN which has hccn
in since Ie5l. Thereby he may have made the
work more effective in performance but he robbed
are concerned. wh,. after AL. were most Interested
In the matter There are curiou, things In the
history Of this much admired symphony. In the
first place, II j. called the composers fourth when
II l. IN fact his second. The Of this inaccuracy
has long been known. Schumann crnpocd 1t In i-4l.
Immediately after writing his symphony I'm Is fiat. hut
did rot give it out IA print until ten Year, later.
Meanwhile he had written aud published two Others.
lie was dissatisfied with IT, effect when lac had 1t
performed in Leipzig IN the year Of its composition.
and withdrew II, that he micis act more than literally
IN accordance with the famous advice 81 Horace lie
let II lie ten years. Then he revived II and published
II ~ opus I3O. This hr~t printed score bore "
statement that the sketch III the symphony had
ori gnatcd In I-4i What Schumann or his publisher
called sketch a complete scorc-thc symphony
a. # was heard at the Philharmonic Society. 'hVo
for the additions made by Herr Wuener to the k't
and possibly few in'erplauohs
which schumann made IN the score before he ude'D'h
III. thorough revision. II + not II part OF the pr't
history Of the autograph Iut seems likely that the
Inspiring cause of the Cologne concert ana The ne"
publication va, a labor OF o,, performed for Brihn,
Ly Herr Mandyczcwski, nrchiy,t Of the society 81
Friend, oi Music in Vienna We have the story from
MIR joseph MO-cnthal Brahms having loaned the
of IL MANDY czcw,h for Inspection lhc
lattcr returned it with volume In which he had copied
the two version, OF the symphony page Tor page L' -
face to facilitate comparison. brahms and other"
came 10 the conclusion that tie first form was III
many respects the better and that >chumanna ais
sat, faction fin l-i1 was due probably - ihc mt
mat he had an inefficient body of string IN his OF.
,h .tra. Til, result Of the comparison wiz ""'''"
about curiosity WA, stimulated and finally "uciHer
tested tie matter 10y the Cologne performance
Though fine new publication does not put In our
hand, a faithful copy Of TIA. FIRST score 1t demonstrates
that the I've, ,ion of ISL wa, more
q IN. work Ia, heretofore been believed loe''"er
with the circumstance that Herr Wuellner preserves
absolute silence on the subject, II gives puie'"' O
fine story for which Wa,iclewsh /, responsible thai
iciuaiIv the bonanza was accompanied DS 4"
cuittI which va, discarded because 1T was found IN
affective Wucllncr SAYS nothing about quit"
uurt but there j. story 10 the enc ual
-chumann's original Intention to u'e s"'1"
,s evidenced by star AT the bottom
Of the score OF the RomanIa harA'u
" guitar" but left vacant. We shall Indicate o'S
few Of the alteration, shown 10 have been made III
ddi,ion 4, fuller Instrumentation. The earlier yer
sion start, with the fall chorus Of MAJOR w'ieica'
the later has merely dominant sounded IN oct"Ne' oS
all the instruments Of the orchc ira save TIE ""'
home. The effect Of this Is infinitely more Impressive
than that Of The major chord. The device oil 'dsse0'
ing the principal subject OF The first movement al 'hc
cl,,e of the introduction l. not employed III u" ''
version though il III the mind Of ochunann. I" Is
yidcnccG by hi, Of II IN the largo Introduction 10
the lat movement When tho second subject oil the
ur.t movement /, introduced, Schumsnn accompanies 1t
sy a counterpoinI made Of the first subject Inl' u'
vice i, not only learned but II sounds well. IL Wa
abandoned In thr second version In favor oi SihPer
but ,onorous accompaniment; INC Romano a amu
Il RIO are pac ticaly unchanged In the acohn NeI
ion Ia the male principal subject bcglll' Il, III
lie second version. but lo figure IN tlc hn',te Dor
l0wcd from the phnclps: subject Of the hI'i move
urnt /, absent. aud the second four measures ar |
wholly different being u surpn ,inSly weak mcloHi,
nhI7,c II nny Us added That Schumhnn whs ,eNeu |
,ith his p.nchan for German Designations WINE the
vmphony wa, rpenint in his mild, for tempo ana cN
Li~>.on marks are IN Italian In the nr'i version ana
n 1,crman I'm The second.
We can scarcely saw that believe tiht. under
All the circumstances. the new publication was !n>
led Had schum1nn', original score been repro |
iuced would have had a value rs showing the opera
ions Of hi~ mind with reference to the Symph;hN |
sut by adopting some Textures from th' second NerNV
yr Wurllncr has simply challenged comparison ~ |
c.pcct nf effectiveness and here we ln'nn" u ih'
opinion that In spite Of the charming clearhc,s Oh tnc
irs. movement due 10 the absence OF the turgldN |
which IA often mar, Schumanns nstruln' NATION ii'
composer improved the work greatly when he irvl 81
The eNcl,On Of the second four measures oi th'
- mn AlLmc q tcmcn lou,