The record-union., 1899-02-05

| ~ -
New York Tribune: Now. after two
years, Moritz Rosenthal comes back as
! he left us, as one without rival in one
element of the art of pianoforte play
| ing, namely, technique; but he soon
J disclosed to- us the fact that he has also
enlarged and enriched his powers in
! other and more vital matters He has
| developed the emotional side Of his
| playing, and has gained in warmth and
| the perception of the poetical essence
OF the music he has in hand. His tone
is richer and more senssiously beautiful.
He is not yet a poet in the interpreta-
ton Of great music-there is never quite
an absolute spontanedty, a freedom
from the fetters, or strictly calculated
effect. He has not quite escaped from
the bonds of the virtuoso. His playing
has always been the product of keen
| and penetrating intellectual power that
goes hand in hand with the most bewil-
dering achievements of his miraculous
! technique, and that guides and adjusts
even the most extraordinary of them
down to the smallest shadow Of effect.
| Frau Lilli hermann, the Wagnerian
prin1a donna, and one of the founders
of the German society against the ''or-
nalnenting of women's hats with the
dead bodies of BIRDS has been tackled
| by an absurd Partisan writer, who asks
whether she sleeps iii a feather bed.
| In French papers she neatly turns
| the tables. She declares that she sleeps
upon a spring mattress, but that if
goose feathers are plucked from the
| living bird she would protest against
them as energetically as against any
| cruelty, whether to animals or man
kind. If Frau Lehman would only
| extend her denunciations to the mat
| inee hat" as a thing of cruelty to all
who go to afternoon performances, she
would earn the lasting gratitude of
mere man.
| The autograph score of Lortzig's
| Gear und Zimmerman was recently,
and by chance, discovered among the
opera archives at Agram (Croatia). The
manuscript bears an autograph dedica-
ton, also the composers signature
and seal, with the date Leipsic, Octo-
Der Is, 1889.
The Pope has appointed the Able Pc
rosi director of music in the Sixtine
| Chapel.
| The following is the way ''Siegfried"
| is disposed of in the Buckingham Let
ters," which have attracted much at
tention in England:
| Our third -"Siegfried"-was the
most delightful Of all; it is like happy
! enchantment. One seems to feel the
| wind and the sunshine every time when
| Siegfried blows his horn. We had a
good young Siegfried, and he did not
put On an aggressively childish manner,
! as some singers do. He was more than
| sufficient to cope with the Worm-for
| it was a very poor, numbering reptile.
l have a difference with the rest of
the party. They won't allow that Mime
! is charming person. The cleverness
of the way in which the music fits his
odious character without being unmu-
steal is to me particularly pleasing; but
wonder why Siegfried did not kill him
| much sooner or set the bear at him. 1
know / should have done something to
him. But what a glorious hight of joy
| the last act rises to after Brunnhilde's
awakening! It is a. thing to make one
dizzy. sfTs..
Miss Rose NJ. Woolf, pianiste, of this
city will give an invitation concert on
the 2Sth inst She is a native of this
city, and possessed of marked ability.
She is a pupil of Otto Bendix, and is an
active member of the Saturday Club,
the well-known musical organization of
Sacramento. Miss Woolf will present
classical program.
The Rome correspondent of Musical
America" after witnessing the pre-
miere of Iris" Mascagni's latest opera,
writes enthusiastically of the brilliancy
of it's performance and the beauty of its
japanese setting, and says of the work
itself: The long expected, slowly ma
tured blossom of Mascagni's art was a
disappointment in one respect; there
are no attempts anywhere to bride the
public, no condescension to effect, no
effort to dazzle. This work is pure and
chaste, just as it's heroine, and does
not ask for favor. An exciting story,
enhanced by strange decorative effects
had been anticipated, and instead there
was a libretto alike deficient in dra-
matte effect and situations; without
love, without passion, and without har- |
mony and weighted down with d high |
ly unsympathetic last act, given over
in part to the wailings of all kinds of |
unintelIgible genii. This new work of |
Mascagni will certainly not be carried |
along by the action, as was his first |
opus, but solely and exclusively by it's !
music. The first scene is preceded by /
prelude which effectively pictures and I
embraces the sentiments of the entire |
work; the harmonic structure is won |
derfully clear. the instrumental color !
ing descriptive of the dawn of great t
force and the wealth of musical form |
and expressiveness is surprising, al /
though the influence of Wagner is I
strongly felt. The hymn to the sun fol- /
lowing the prelude is worthy of a great |
master, while the aria of Iris is some |
what monotonous. The chords of the |
washerwoman is sparkling as the spring |
water they are washing their clothes |
in, and the replies of Iris given them I
are remarkably sweet. The scene de-
scribing the circumstantial abduction
of Iris by Prince Osaka and his confed- /
crate, Kioto, is somewhat lengthy, but |
the public is rewarded for its patience
by the splendid aria of Jor. This aria |
is followed by the .'Valse of the Gnek- /
has" those evil spirits, who play such I