The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-03
MnsroAL VOTES.
Last Weeks DOiugs and This Weeks Pros nnanfa

events Of interest to musicians, peSln- ming with last Tuesday nights cham Der concert at the North Sheffield This second concert of the series was a trio night with Messrs. Danreuther and Schenck of the Danreuther quartet (the name which has been adopted since the reorganization of the old Beetho- ven quarteD, and MT, Arthur Whiting, the pianist and composer of New York. The program consisted of piano and violin sonata by Dvorak, Rubenstein trio, and group of piano solos. MT. Danreuther played the Dvorak number in a clean and careful manner, but he has hardly the dash and virllity for this style of composition. However, he had been playing hard all day long In New York, and had to rush up here to fulfil this engagement without having dined, so naturally was not feeling very fit, He has played here often before when he has been heard to so much better advantage that it is not fair to criticize his work on Tuesday evening. MT, Schenck is always a conscientious per former. MT. Whiting has not been do- ing concert work of late, being too busy with his compositions, and so perhaps was not in his best form. He played quite brilliantly in the trio, but was al together too prominent in both ensem- ble numbers for a good balance of the parts. His solos, especially his own .1I II, piano which he used was very inferior instrument, and probably the dry and unsympathetic quality of tone was ow- ing to this fact. The Mason and Ham, lin piano is not comparable to their or gan.
 Wednesday was the first night of
 Tristan and Isolda" at the opera. Sev- eral New Haven people went down among them, Mrs. A. Heaton Robertson, who went as Madame Nordica's guest. This performance of Tristan" a Wag- ner music drama, in which his ideas found their most complete expression by singers whose training had been of the French and Italian school is an event the importance of which for this country and Europe 1t is hard to over estimate. The critics have united in saying that taken as a whole it is the most perfect performance the work has ever received in New York.
 First of all it was sung in tune from beginning to end, a thing unparalleled It has ordinarily been considered inn possible. It remained for Jean de Reske, after having conquered all the worlds of the old regime, to prove that with the right training it was possible to apply correct vocal methods success fully to the intervals of the Wagner score, and to set up a new standard for the German school to follow, What was the surprise of the old Wagnerites who had heard Tristans of all kinds here and in Europe, even in that holy of holies, Bayreuth who had bawled and shouted both above and below the key, but never consistently striking the note in the middle" {as Svengali told Trilby)
 what was their surprise on hearing Wednesdays performance. It was like hearing the work for the first time. And not only was it vocally satisfying but the spirit throughout with all the singers was entirely conscientious and so very different from what one so often sees at this opera house.
 The contrasts between the artistic standards of a Donizetti night and per formance of Wednesday night or Sat urday's matinee are painfully marked. And this same house has seen the evo- lution of Lillian Nordica from a bril- liant colorature soprano, whose acting was self conscious and indifferent into one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of the world Her Isolde has fulfilled what her Elsa promised. It is not con- ceived in the heroic mould of Lehman or Materna. She is not a goddess, but a natural, human, shining woman. She has taken her own ideas about Isolde and worked out the character according to her own notions. She is consistent throughout, and If not as powerful and dominant as some would have yet a more loveab1e and pathetic Isolde we have never seen. And her beautiful voicel It is like 8 violin, as she spins out the notes. Nordica's voice has a certain chameleon quality. She seems to have a new voice for each part; her Violetta, her Aida, in none of them does her voice sound alike, except for that certain silvery tone. And in this new part what consummate art and symmetry of pose, and how well she adapts them to the accompaniment of the orchestra. The same praise is due DeReske. The awakening after the drinking of the love potion was wonderfully done.
 Jean DeReske's Tristan" is a very moving figure and a splendid dramatic achievement. His final scene was stead fly worked up to an overpowering eli max. Many do not find him as spon- taneous as Alvary, but what nobility and sincerity. Alvary is too ingenious at times. It is all very well in a myth ological characteristic gods were al- ways thus in the old tales-but in Iris tan we see humanity. What a man this Jean De Reske is! For years an insig- nificant baritone. Then he determines when he is no longer youthful to be a tenor. He rests for five years, mean while studying constantly and learning a new set of roles He reappears a lyric tenor and works his way not with an all-compelling voice, but by his mar velous art and personal charm. Now when he is over fifty years of age he is to become a Wagnerian tenor, and if his Tristan is an example of the rest what record he must leave behind when he finally retires. No wonder