The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-31

| also the voce iii capelli chair voice; by this
| he meant the high G sharp. d, E and FL,
! these offend my ear
| In time Nine. Marchesi's position at the
| Vienna COnseryatoire was wanted for the
| protege of an Austrian grand duke, and
| she was obliged to resign. In 1861 she left
| the imperial city on the beautiful blue
| Danube for the beautiful capital on the
| river Seine, and there she succeeded as
| teacher beyond all expectations. Then, in
| 1864 she and her husband We're engaged for
a series of concerts in England, Ireland
| and Scotland, and Miss Louisa Pyne, Mr..
| Harrison and Herr Pfeiffer were in the
| same company. They gave thirty con-
| certs and wound UP by singing at court be-
] fore Queen Victoria. and for which Nine.
| Marchesi was rewarded with either the in
| evitable bracelet or the usual breastpin
/ that is her Britannia Majesty recompense
! In the summer of 1865 Nine. Marchesi
was compelled to give up her teaching ana
quit Paris on account of i'll health, and
4 thus it came about that the family went
/ TO Cologne, where she was engaged as pro-
fessor at the conservatoire she remained
/ at Cologne three years and while there had
a pupil young woman who possessed
/ a rare contralto voice, and whose name
was Antoinette Sterling. In Cologne she
| made the acquaintance of Hector Berlioz
! who had gone there from Paris to conduct
| his symphony, Harold In Italy" Berhoz
/ belonged to the so-called romantic school,
and was constantly rebelling against the
| rules of counterpart. On one examination
/ day Cherubini, who was reading Berliozs
/ composition, asked:
/
| mean?'
Il thought the prolonged silence would
| produce certain effect upon the public"
| answered the pupil.
oh you thought so. did YOU" Numbered
| the master, with his habitual bad temper.
You thought so, indeed. Well, / think the
effect would be still greater if you length
ened the pause by striking out the whole
| Of it,
MEETING WITH PATTI.
| During that same engagement Rubinstein
| gave some piano recitals in Cologne, and
at one of these two of Marchesi's pupils
sang duets to his accompaniment. He tried
| to induce her to go to st. Petersburg and
teach the Russians, but she would not. She
now had offers from Berlin, Dresden and
New York, but finally allowed herself to
be called back to Vienna, and during her
second engagement at that conservatoire a
| young girl named Etelka Gerster entered
| her class as a pupil. While Gerster was still
| studying, Mime. Patti, who was singing in
| Italian opera at Vienna, called on Mar
| chest, and the famous teachers story of
! the meeting between the girl student and
| the already famous cantatrice is very
| pleasantly related in these Memoirs" An
other pupil of that period was Mile. Ire
| melli, who has also sang in this country.
Nine. Marchesi has expressed herself as
| follows regarding the Austrian capital as a
musical city, During our stay in Vienna
| only two prominent members of the musical
world-Karl Goldmark, the Hungarian COM
| poser, and Johannes Brahms of Hamburg
settled there Both of these led retired lives,
and the latter, a churliSh genius, for
| ever insulting somebody. 1t may be owing
to the times. or perhaps for local reasons,
| that Vienna, once the abode of ilustrious
| composers, should now rather be avoided
! than sought after by great artists. The
| court gives little or no patronage to art,
and the aristocracy, formerly the warmest
| of patrons, now follow the court example.
No, Vienna cannot longer be ranked, either
socially or unsteady, as the first among
large cities"
| But in her book Marchesi also declares
| that the Paris Opera House, grand and
beautiful as 1t is, cannot compare with the
one in Vienna as regards style, comfort,
en-scene and the ballet appeared to her To
| be artisticaily superior in the Austrian
| capital. "On the other hand continues
Nine MarcheSi, 1.-The French singers, male
and female, far surpass the Germans in die
ton, clearness of enunciation and style. Inc
French sing the words; Germans sing the
music. The French modulate their voices;
Germans sing from beginning to end with
their full power. In Germany a singer must
have a powerful voice to be appreciated,
while in France he must be an eloeutlOnlSt.
The two combined make a fine star. Per-
sonally, / am admirer of big, heavy
voices, and incline more toward beauty of
delivery and dramatic expression In France,
as in Italy, operas are quite different from
operettas, and no good artistic would ever
think of singing in both At Frankfort |
| heard a certain artistic as Elsa in 'Lohen-
| grim and two three nights later heard
| her as the principal character in Millocker's
| Bettel Student
SCORES THE GERMANS
1.-The demands made in Germany on an
| operatic singer are incredible Her phys
ical and psychological powers are so heav-
| lily taxed by the constant changes in the
repertoire that she is very rarely able to
do justice to her roles, unless gifted with
| good nerves, good lungs, strong vocal
| nxtr aor1fp
Moreover. well-trained singer in Germany
must always be at war with the musical
| conductor, inasmuch as the latter only
| knows his baton, attaches but small i'm
| portance to vocal Interpretation, and is
/ worn enemy to anything in the shape of
rollentando or tempo rnpato. Even IN the
4 ton plays an important part, the singer has
| to yield TO the inexorable tyrant. The Ger
/ man musical conductor Is just as unmercl-
| full with regard to the words, requiring the
| singer to pronounce the most difficult ones
/ on the highest notes, unheedful of the eff
| feet produced. The same reproach can also
| be made to the composers of the new
| school, who treat the human voice as an
| instrument, as / have already said When
| will the golden period arrive when com
| posers will have technical knowledge of
/ the human voice, as they now have CT
drums?
For seventeen scholastic years Marchesi
/ remained at the Vienna Conservatore, and
/ handed in her resignation. In August, 1881,
| she returned to Paris, where she has re-
/ sided ever since, and during those sixteen
| years the present writer has had the honor
| and pleasure of her acquaintance. These
years have been years of increasing toll
/ and devotion to her scholars and to her art,
| and without wishing to detract in the
| slightest degree from other teachers of sing
! ing, either in the United States or Europe,
| it can be truthfully asserted that no one
| has ever achieved higher rank as profess
sor or brought out as many great artists
| as the authoress of this interesting book
now before us.
The organization of Mime. Marchesi's
| school at Paris in the Rue Jouffroy provides
| for different classes for the formation of the
voice. pronunciation and style, especially
| for pupils intending to come out as concert
| or as opera singers. She also has a French
| opera class, an Italian opera class, etc,
| and it is she alone who teaches her method
! for these several pursuits. The 'matinees
| musicale of the Ecole Marchesi are
| famous and one always hears her
| performances. The presence of many
| men of genius used to electrify
Marchesfs pupils as it also gave an
| artistic stamp to the performance which
had no equal elsewhere. 1t was q great
| treat whenever Gounod was there, for he
was such dear old man. so good and
| gentle, so lovingly sympathetic. so deeply
| grand musician. And Massenet. dear
| kind-hearted excitable, affectionate. pa
/ tent, tender, generous, gifted Massenet
/ how everybody loves him and his compost
| tons. and how we used TO marvel at his
| finger skill a. he rapturously played accom-
paniment after accompaniment to those
scholars who knew how to sing his melo-