The age-herald., 1900-12-30

Few of Beethoven's great works are so
 well known by name as the Kreutzer so-
 nata opus 47, written for piano and violin,
 and few of them are less familiar to the
 ears of concert goers. And yet the kreut-
 ger is full of simple melody and moving pa
 thos, and no classic music could appeal
 more strongly to non-professional music
 lovers. The reason 1t is not often heard Is
 because of it's technical difficulties both
 for the pianist and the violinist- Some parts
 of 1t are extremely difficult. There is
 scarcely anything in piano technic that
 Beethoven did not work into this sonata
 It Is to instrumentalists what Handel s
 oratorio "The Messiah" is to singers. The
 latter is a marvel of scale work, and
 abounds in what the French call vocal
 ises" and the Italians -.voealizzos voice
 exercises Any artist whose Yocalization
 is equal to certain solos in "The Messiah
 is able to sing the severest music ever writ
 ten for the voice. So, too, any pianist who
 can play the Kreutzer sonata in musieianly
 style can come very near playing every
 thing composed for the piano.
 Beethoven wrote this sonata in 1So3 but
 did not dedicate it to his friend, Rudolphe
 Kreutzer the great violinist, until several
 years later. It is said. by the way, that
 Kreutzer never played it. Beethoven and ToWerbridge, another master Violnist, per formed it frequently but the composer, falling out with Towerbridge, decided to dedicate it to Kreutzer
 The Kreutzer sonata has been often play ed in Berlin with Joachim on the violin part, but not in public in recent years The most notable performance of 1t in this country was years ago in New York by Rubinstein and Wiendaski
 As virtuosos are becoming so plentiful.
 the Kreutzer will be heard more frequently from this time on. Only a week or TWO | ago Baur and Kneizel played it in New | York, and Leonora Jackson, the young | American violinist is to play 1t with one of the big panists on | Southern tour. Miss Jackson has with her 1 now Selden Pratt, an excellent pianist-one l of the best-and it may be that she will | favor her Birmingham audience with 1t on the 17th of January. Benjamin Gucken- berger would no doubt be prepared to play | it with her. If they were to perform it to- | gether 1t would certainly enhance local in terest in Miss Jackson's concert.
 Theodore Thomas has arranged the an | dante and variations of the Kreutzer so- l nata for his orchestra, and it was one oi the novelties on the programme of the sec ond concert of his present season in Chi l cago It made hit. w. s. B. Mathews | editor of Music, writes of 1t as follows: Tn making the score MT. InomaS IolloWeu | quite carefully the effects produced by the | instruments as given by Beethoven-fol- l lowed that is as closely as is possible for an orchestra to represent the effect or pl- | ano and violin. In general the scheme is this: He begins the theme by the low | strings, mainly the cellos and violas; later l with the coming in of the solo violin all | the violins have the melody. The middle part opens with woodwind effect. The first l variation in which the pianoforte has most | of the work, is here given to the woodwind | the clarinet and flute having the upper | parts. The triangle is modestly introduced | once or twice. and in the middle theme the | woodvind becomes fuller. The violins have | very little to do, and that mainly the notes | of the solo violin part. The second varia- | tion, which belongs to the solo violin, he | takes with all the violins together Qirsts | and seconds) upon the solo, while the ac- | comnaniment Is given to the woodwind and