Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-08-21

to the concert given by Jacob Reuter-
assisted by Miss Anna Opdahl. But il
Wausau people had only appreciated
fully the treat in store for them, stand
ing room would have been at pre-
MUM.
| The program was opened by Supt
Karl Mathie who had been requested tc
speak on 1.-THE Violin and Its Music. .
He said he felt constrained to grant the
request because of the great joy thai
had come to him through the violin and
its music. Mr.. Mathie, when a. small
boy, took his first lesson of Norwe
gian violinist. When he received his
| first notice in the PILOT he felt bigger
than Ole Bull or anyone else. The
violin has been properly called 'the
king of instruments" from its very
nature. While the flute has four oil
five overtones, the pipe-organ six, and
the piano eight, the violin, with ten
oveftOnes, surpasses all musical instru-
ments. Its strings seem to be alive
with vibrations From the beauty and
pathos of the violin, and the love which
its possessor holds toward it, the title
|of queen would be appropriate. Oi
course, there are violins and violins,
only the latter are fiddles. The good
violin stands as protest against the
machinemade tendency of the age In
the fifteenth century, great attention
was given to beauty of form; the in
struments were inlaid with pearl and
tortoise shell; superb carving was
done. But it was later when the
Amate and Guarneri were made that
we find the greatest attention to tone.
The violin is jealous, capricious in
strument. 1t possesses the advantage
of being capable of perfect tuning,
while the piano is tuned under com
promise for all keys. Paganini has
been called the Hercules Of the violin,
but should also be called the Columbus
of that instrument, for it was he who
first played above the third position; he
gave us the tremolo of the left hand,
the up and down bow staccato, and the
left hand pizzicato and harmonics.
Mr.. Mathie also told something of the
construction of the violin and the care
with which its various parts must be
selected. The talk was interesting and
instructive and delivered in Mr..
Mathie's inimitable manner, making
every one in the audience feel that the
speaker was thoroughly sincere in all
he said.
That the violin playing was as good
as anyone could wish to hear goes with
out saying to those who have heard
Mr.. Reuter-. In spite of the bad weather
and consequent breaking of strings
forcing him to play the first selection
on another instrument, he appeared at
his best Although Mr. Reuter- has
often been heard by Wausau people
the entire program which he rendered
was new, and had never before been
played by him. The six selections
which he played were, with one excep-
ton, classical. The one exception con-
sisted of popular airs with variations
Annie Laurie, Comm Thro' the Rye,
and Verlassen. His rendition of the
two former airs was something such as
a Wausau audience never heard before,
for the variations were Mr.. Reuters
own, in which the airs were produced
in single harmonics, with an accom-
paniment in double harmonic chords
an exceedingly difficult feat and withal
most pleasing to the ear His first
on the program, "Vieuxtemps'
Fantasia on Faust" is one of the most
classical fantasies written upon that
famous opera, and eXcels all others
in the orchestration, and
piano accompaniment. The chief
theme of it is the King of Thule, and
the finale is most brilliant one in
walztempo. His second number was
Malaguena, Spanish dance, one of
Sarasote's prettiest compositions, con-
tanning among other beauties a great
display of harmonics. The next num-
Der, Separation, dream song by
Bazini, was pleasing contrast to the
preceding one, being in the nature of
an Elegie, in which is produced fine
imitation of two voices, male and
female. The next number opened with
flAY, ,,Nr,cin NJ. par,far. hass
taught Wausau people to love-a Ma
zourka Bravoura by Musin, who is not
only favorite author with Mr.. Reuter-,
but great composer and performer
who has been heard in Wausau, and
whom Mr.. Reuter- is happy to have in
his list of good friends. Following this
selection Mr.. Reuter- played what is
probably the most difficult thing ever
written for the violin, not excepting
even the music of Paganni--a Rondo
Brilliante from Wieniowski's F sharp
minor concerto. Although every piece
was received with hearty applause, it
was the rendition of ''VerlasSeR' that
brought down the house. The simple
melody rang through the building with
a pathos and sweetness that appealed
strongly to everyone and when, in re-
Spouse TO incessant applause, Mr.. Reu-
ter appeared again and the pianist
played the preliminary notes to Yer
lassen" once more, she was interrupted
with another burst of enthusiasm from
the audience. Each selection, master
piece in itself, was rendered by master
hand
The second number on the program
was a soprano solo by Miss Anna
0pdahl. She is Wausau girl and viii,
without doubt, prove factor In max
ing the city known throughout the
country, for such music as lies in her
voice cannot be long unrecognized by
the outer world
In spite of the fact that Miss UpdahFs
training 11ndar eonaDafant teachers Is