The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-09


 Nights and Tuesday Matinee; Sa'
 Great Pan-American Electric Carr
 The offerings by the local theatres for this week are scant. The most interest ing announcement is that Lewis Morri- son wtn come to the Montgomery The atre Wednesday matinee and night with his own production of "Faust It VIII be remembered that Mir. Morrison was booked for Montgomery ten days ago put owing to the bad weather conoiuons the train bearing his Company. from Column bus, Ga, to Montgomery was delayed and the company could not reach here in time for the performance,
 Musicians will no doubt pc greauy m Josef Hofmann will give piano recital at the Montgomery Theatre Saturday evening. Next to Paderewski Hofmann x regarded as the greatest piano player In the world. A new play, "Reaping the Harvest" will be produced at McDonald's Theatre three times early in the week. 1t has been received kindly by newspaper crit ics in several Southern cities. Saturday matinee and night the Bibb Street playhouse will offer series of electrical pictures and novelty enter- tainment which the management claims is deserving of patronage.
 Morrison in "Faust'' Wednesday.
 The elaborate scenery and gorgeous dresses, added to a newly invented sys- tenn of electrical effects novel and start ling in their operation would make Lew is Morrison's Faust remarkable any where. This season. however all former productions have been surpassed in point of scenery, costumes. electrical, mechan- teal and vocal effects and the strength of the company.
 Lewis Morrison himself will positively appear as Mephisto. It is in honor of his reappearance that the most costly and elaborate production of Faust ever staged has been gotten up. A new >pro- logue has been written by well known author. The choral and vocal work by an invisible choir and soloists is one of the most impressive features of this new scene. As the seventeen scenes of this prologue disappear one by one and reveal a, picture of the Sates of Paradise with Mephisto appealing to the arch-angel surrounded by his host, picture of rare beauty is revealed which receives added dignity from the sonorous appeal of Sa- tan and the exquisite music which was specially composed for the duration of this scene. The choral and vocal work, which partakes of the nature of an ora torio with a high lyric soprano voicing the recitative as Satan listens in mock cry. adds solemnity and, beauty to a prologue that delights the eye by the rapidly changing cloud and light effects, while the ear is charmed by the musical numbers.
 The garden and Brocken scene as we'll as the beautiful apotheosis, are all bright and new from the studios of Seavey and Armbruster. All this in connection xith Lewis Morrison's magnificent interpreta- tion of Mephisto will doubtless prove strong magnet
 The company is strong one and in- cludes Miss Rosabel Morrison, who will assume her original character of Maguer ite.
 MT. Morrison and his company will be at the Montgomery theatre Wednesday matinee and night.
 Josef Hofmann, Great Pianist.
 Josef Hofmann. the celebrated pianist. is to be heard in a piano recital in this city at the Montgomery Theatre next Saturday night.
 The children on the streets know of Hofmann as the boy, who in his first pair of knickerbockers and a mighty grand piano. the pedals of which he could not reach. when sitting on his piano stool, with his tiny legs and who swayed the feelings of immense audiences with his magic fingers nearly fifteen years ago. He is no longer the prodigy who was the talk of the land, but matured ar tist who has won a place among the is now 25 years of age but from his boyish face one would not take him to be more than twenty. His age does not interfere with his ability as player.
 In the interpretation of the compo- stions of the great masters he is an adept. He plays Bach, Beethoven and the compositions of the other old mas ters unlike any other pianist, for Hof- mann never seeks to display his won- derful talents to the detriment of the compositions he is rendering. Again, he plays the Chopin numbers, waltzes, ma Zourkas, nocturnes. etudes in a manner that keeps his audience in ecstasy. At his late recitals in New York City the audience could f~rdly restrain it's ap- plause until he ended number Hof- mann appeals to both the artist and stu dent. This latter Is something which Is only too rarely found in pianists of to- day.
 Hofmann was born in Cracow. January 20. 1877. He first studied with his father who was professor at the Warsaw Ob- servatory. At the age of he was heard in public for the first time and from then until his ninth year he was heard only in the vicinity of his own home. When he was 10 years of age he made his first appearance Tn Berlin. which was the beginning of career that may well be called sensational. After a number of concerts and recitais through Germany. Sweden Denmark and Norway, he then visited Vienna, Paris and London. not only winning brilliant successes by his marvellous playing. but also the respect and admiration pf, the. critics and musi- clans for the woaierfuI genius he dis played in improvising.
 During the season 1SS7-SS. he visited this country for the first time when he played nearly fifty concerts, creating such sensation as no one of his years had ever done before in this country, and up to the present time remains un- exceIled. His first tour, however, was suddenly abandoned and Hofmann return ed to Europe where he went into retire. ment until 1894, when he made his re- appearance in Dresden. on the advice of Rubinstein, with whom he had been stay ing for the previous three years, and who decided he was now ready to appear in public and to fulfill the promises of his early youth. Eight years previous he had appeared in Dresden and the critics and musicians of that city were among the first to recognize the wonderful ge- nius that the boy Hofmann, possessed, His success on the second appearance was most brilliant and so enthusiastic was Rubnstein over 1t that he immedi- ately invited Hofmann to play in Ham, burg at an orchestral concert under his direction.
 After playing through Germany, Hof- mann went to Russia where he made his debut in St. Petersburg. The perform snce on that evening was a memorable one The critics were enraptured. No nianist, they said, had such magnetic in- fuence over his audience as did Hof- mann. He is a pianist who interests from The first to the last note. Not alone does he interest the learned musician. but the student as well, At his recitals given in New York City last season. The New York Herald said the following in SUD- wort of this: 'Hofmann Is one of those PSortunnte players who appeals both to rtIsts and amateurs In him there Is SnovIedge of art astonishingIy mature Of he .sf