The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-20

nized the tenor poet of the world. Un-
der his fingers the piano sings and the
soul of its sweetness is revealed in its
fullest and loveliest perfection. The
Rubenstein touch is what all
artists strive for, that is, strength with
nghtness. Players who pound the piano
get from the instrument just that for
which they aim-noiSe. And who goes
To n concert to hear ear-distracting
noise?' Just here we may call atten-
tion to the beautiful pianissimo work of
our own pianist, Mr.. Carter, as eXhib-
ited throughout his entire work of Mon.
uay evening. He produced the same
variety of delicate shading on the piano
as he does upon his big organ. His
peautlful piano touch emphatically re"
tutes the idea that organ playing in,
jures the touch for the piano.
The music committee of Elm Park
church will meet all applicants for the
position of solo sopranos at the church
on Monday at p. m. The test will
consist of solo singing and sight read
ing.
i Il Il
Nine. Nordica will sail for New York
early in November. She will sing Elisa"
on her first night at the Metropolitan
opera House, under Abbey & Grau's
management. Later in the season
"Tristran and Isolde will be given,
with Nordica and Jean de Reszke in the
title roles. Both will sing in German.
The Oratorio society of New York,
under Damrosch. will give THE Crea-
tion," Messiah" and Bach's Passion
According to st. Mathew" during the
In, o
oratorio, when Beethoven's great "Missa
Solennis" will be performed.
Nine. Bertha -Goldschmitt, the
pianist, who played in this country with
DAlbert and Sarasate in 1890 will give
an interesting series of eight recitals in
Berlin. Two evenings are devoted to
the sonata, one to etudes, one to fanta-
sizes and ballads, the last of the series
to living composers. Out of % numbers
Brahms leads the list with seven.
The Boston Symphony orchestra has
taken the Metropolitan opera house for
the usual series of concerts in New
York this year Seidl will give five con.
certs there during the next month. The
six PhilharmOnics, under Seidl and the
symphony society concerts, under
Damrosch, will be given in Music hall.
The Blauvelt concert at the Froth-
ingham on Monday evening may be con-
sidered the chief musical event of the
week. An excellent programme was ar
tistically rendered and there was little
about the entertainment to criticize.
At the risk of being considered in the
dark musically speaking, however, one
must question the taste displayed in
closing the concert with an agoniZing
solo from the Creation" The writer
has upon various occasions listened to
Il moderate variety of music, and can
enjoy almost anything in the line. I'm,
der proper cultivation he might be en'
abled to derive pleasure from listening
to the filing of buzz saw or to the
staccatto passages from a classical
boiler manufacturing shop. But candor
cOmpels the admission that "On Mighty
Peus" is too profound it its ear wrench
ing completeness for comprehension.
The musical theme is too thoroughly
obscured to be properly appreciated by
the average listener. The uneasiness
of the audience at the rockingham on
Monday night during Madame Blau,
velt's efforts to discover the musical
point in the solo, was in marked con"
trast with the silence that pervaded the
theater during the rendition of the re-
mander of the programme. There is
no question that the oratorio inspira
tion left an unpleasant impression up
on the audience at the close of the con.
cert.
The latest in musical devices Is
patent attachment which can be hooked
upon an upright piano, making the lat
ter, by the aid of an electric motor,
self-playing instrument. The appli-
ance has reached Scranton and is re-
garded with apprehension in some local
tiles The fiend who plays Down Went
McGinty" and "Boulanger's March for
hours at stretch, occasionally Is
forced to stop for sleep and food; but
1t is easy to see that the machine piano
may go on forever, so long as the elec'
tric power holds out. One consolation,
however, may be derived from the au'
tomato instrument: There are no
music rolls manufactured yet that con-
tain the five-finger exercises that often
make the labors of the youthful aspir'
ant something to be dreaded in a quiet
neighborhood. For this all should be
thankful.
II II II
SHARPS AND FLATS:
The chorus recently organized by John
It. Watkins which will compete at Allen
town on Thanksgiving, began active re-
hearsal on Wednesday evening.
Cosima Wagner has accepted an invita-
tion to be present at the model perform
ances of Wagner's music-dramas to be
given at Dessau next month";
In addition to the female choir Mrs
Nellie Moses Thomas will conduct chor-
us of mixed voices that will compete for
prizes at the eisteddfod at Allentown on
Thanksgiving Day.
DR.. Dvorak will be represented in the
autumn season in London by number or
his works, including the American sym
phony, the "Spectres Bride and the
ScherZo Capriccioso.
"Elegy on the Death of a Poodle" Is the
title of q hitherto unpublished song of
Beethoven recently issued by i. j. Ton
ger. of Bonn who thinks II was composed
about the same time as Adelaide
Eugene D'Albert, having accepted an
invitation TO play at Gewandhaus con-
cert in Leipsic, was asked TO submit ilst
OF concertos from which selection might
be suggested. He promptly forwarded
a list of fourteen.
The thousandth performance of Goun-
DDS Faust" will shortly be celebrated at
the Paris Opera. and the directors, NM.
bertrand ana lidllnuTu, pTOpOSe " I'M
part special interest to the occasion by
introducing a scene which the composer
shall be gloriied in an appropriate man
ner.
Miss Gertrude Holyoke French, the harp
ist of the rockingham White orchestra,
promises to become valued member or
the musical fraternity of Scranton. Miss
French expects to open studio In the
city and give instruction upon the harp
and mandolin when not filling theatrical
On reading that Clara Schumann cele-
brated her seventy-iifth birthday on Sept
10 at Interlaken, one cannot help thlnk-
ing how many pearls would have been ad-
ded to the worlds musical treasures could
Schumann have preserved his life ana
health as long as his wife, who has sur
yiyed him thirty -eight years.
Verdi, says the New York Evening Post,
has been weak enough to acoede to the re-
quest of the Parisians to add genuine
ballet to his "Othello." The music is said
to be very good. but its excellence will not
atone for the inartistic proceeding of in
PRODUCING an unmotivated ballet in the
third act of that tragic opera.
If music were not fashionable in Ger
many, Emperor William would soon make
1t So He Is now said to be at work on an
opera based on the subject of "Wieland