The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-23
LAST NIGHTS RARE
MUSICAL TREAT
Sieyeking.Bispham Concert at the
rockingham Thcater.
PERSONALITY OF TIE PIANIST
His Appearance Gives No Hin; OF the
His Intensely Artistic Tcmpera.
ment or His Marvellous Mastery OF
the kev BOard..Nr. BisDham
Proved Himself the Prince Of Bari.
tones.-Both Repeatedly Encored.

Il the height of art be to conceal
art, the singing of David Bispham and
the piano playing of Martinus Sieve
king before the brnnant audience
which greeted these eminent artists in
the FrOthinsham theater last evening"
rise very near to the pinnacle OF pos
sible artistic achievement. In neither
instance was single artitice employed
to give meretriciouS advantage to work
whose own superb merit made II, as II
seemed. Incompatible. one may with
out any eAaggeration pronounce their
concert the richest musical repast ever
placed within reach of a Northeastern
Pennsylvania audience; and the only
point left open for regret was that
there should have been vacant seat
Mr. SieVcking, pale, melancholy
looking and typical Hollandcr in ap-
pearance, was the first 20 come FORTH
Since there is naturally more or less
curiosity concerning the personality OF
this young Dutch virtuoso who is be-
lieved by many critics to be promis-
ing rival for Paderewskfs hitherto un-
challenged laurels, II may not he out
of place to say that one meeting him
away from his instrument would be
very unlikely to think Of him as one
of the three or four greatest living
pianists He has. to be sure, the aure-
ole of bristly hair which fadcrewski
made the fashion for pianoforte virtu-
usi: but there is surely no hint in the
stolid countenance, the large and one
might almost say ungainly hands. or
in the mans general air of impassiVity,
of the fluent and intensely poetic ar
tistic temperament within. 1t takes
the instrument to unlock that secret,
and even then one loses all thought OF
the player in his alternately sensuous
and voltaic playing.
HIS OPENING NUMBER.
For his opening number he chose
Beethoven's famous Moonlight sonata,
followed for purposes of contrast by
Chopins fantasic in + minor top. 40.
The Interpretation of the former WAS
richly sympathetic, notably so in the
adaigo. which perhaps suffered from
the audiences interest in the player
rather than i'm his theme. 1t was not
until Mr.. Sieveking began the fantasie
and gave rein To the reserve brllance
and singing polish of his technique mat
If daWned uuon his auditors that liSre
was a Veritable magician of the key
board, whose playing warranted all
and more than all. that had been S'llu
i'm praise Of il. Words do not readily
lend themselves to Il description OF the
tonal triumphs of SieVeking's reading
of Chopin; it is enough to say th'st
after he had concluded, the enthusias-
tic audience demanded three separat
temperatures. and desisted then in
sheer kindness
For his second number he offered
three compositions of his oWn--an in
teresting stud! built upon the theme
of the angelus bell: an exceedingly
dainty and poetic bit Of harmonized
melody called Forest Echoes:" ANA Il
valse de concert of exceptional hiii-
lance. For an encore lie gave Monlel-
ssuhn's with Wings of Song" sound
ing the melody on the piano with the
distnctness and purity and almost with
the warmth of the human voice. His
third number comprised a romance by
TsChaikows.y; a minuet by Bizet and
Moszkowski's familiar tarentelle in G
fiat. which afforded him perhaps the
best opportunity of the evening to cX-
hibit the marvels of his truly wonderful
technique.
To one who undertakes to speak of
Mr.. SievekinG's playing as the writer
of this notice does, without critical
knowledge or pretension. and only with
Il wish to record impressions, there is
left to be said simply that very rarely,
indeed. does it come within ones priv
ilege to hear an artist uniting so inti-
mately the poetic temperament with
a manual mastery of the piano forte
leaving, it would seem, absolutely moth
ing to he desired. He is not only q
player great in technique, but one even
greater in his ability to subdue every
light and shade of the tone colors to his
reading of the composer in hand.
MR.. BISPHAM'S SINGING.
And now. how shall we do justice to
Mr.. Bispham? To say that he is the
prince of baritOnes. with IA voice that
even if unmastered would make him
famOuS-and it Is mastered thoroughly
and with a dramatic power a fine
ness of matured intelligence and a
magnetic presence which before he
sounds Il note. prepare his auditors for
the enjoyment that is to follow, is to
say scarcely more than a fraction of
what ought to be said if one would
convey to those who have never heard
him an idea of his merits. His first
number was song cycle by Beethoven:
his next, Loewe's ballade, "Archibald
Douglas s"-which was attempted, but
not sung. at recent chamber concert
followed by a Schubert song and then
by Schumann; and his last. two new
and two old English songs. giving OPP
pOrtunity for the display of his many
sided lyrical talents.
II would be of little purpose to try
to follow him in detail through these
renditions: perhaps the most satisfac-
tory disposition of the whole matter is
to saw that when one has heard Bisp-
ham one does not wish ever again to
hear an ordinary baritone i'm any of
the selections which Bispham has used.
He, too, was received with most en-
thusiasric favor, and was good natured
enough to be Unexpectedly generous in
recognition of it, responding to three
encores.
WIZARD" SCHAEFFER COMING HERE