New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-21

THE LATE PROFESSOR JULIUS kNlESh.
che habit of nutting First time" after the titles
on his programmes when he meant the work in
question was to have its first performance I'M
der his direction by his orchestra, or in the city
where the concert was given rms seems 10
have been interpreted by his coaborators as
meaning IN every instance First time IN Amer
5ca" The absurdity of some OF the claims thus
set forth ought TO have been obvious TO Mr..
George z. Upton, for several decades musical
critic OF The Chicago Tribune" but it Mr..
Upton who gave out the impressive assurance
that the list might 'be relied on as correct
Perhaps it ought to be mentioned in this con-
nection that erratic manipulation Of the keys
of the typewriting machine by the copyist, or
Of the type setting machine by the compositor,
made a mess Of the first line of The TTibune's
article on May 10. THE second chapter of the
work" was intended 10 read, the last chapter
OF the second volume of the work" To make
an end of a painful subject, let it be said that
IL Mr. Upton would qualify his statement so as
10 make ii read that many Of the pieces in the
list were introduced to America and that the
dates given. with a few exceptions were those
on which Mr.. Thomas conducted the works in
question for the first time, print the correction
and insert ii IA the unsold volumes it would be
a finer tribute to the memory of his idol than
the claim as it stands which must forever chal-
lenge contra dictten from persons personally IA
miliar with music in America during the last
generation and advised of its earlier history.
Investigations in the records of New York, Bos-
ton. Philadelphia, Cincinnati. ST. Louis NIL
waukee and Chicago itself would add TO the
havoc made by one mans memory and recorda
To The Tribune's list must he added:
zoellner, Midnight at Sedan" Thomas, Chi
CagO, December II. 1896: NeNY-York at Carne-
gle Hall. January 90. 1896. under the direction
of the composer.
Schubert. Twenty third Psalm" Thomas.
New-York December II. 1858. Mr. Thomas OBJ
viously referred TO the work with the pianoforte
accompaniment arranged by Reinecke. We
have seen notices of its production in its original
form as early as 1862 in Worcester, Mass, and
1856 IN Cincinnati.
It seems inevitable that the death Of ,ruI,ns
Rniese viii have a great influence upon the
manner Of Wagnerian song. as It has been Guilt
waited for twenty years in Bayreuth. Doubtless
there are many OF his pupils who viii attempt to
perpetUate the principles which Kniese taught
but there is great danger that perversions will
result, just & most Of the uninformed criticism
OF the Bayreuth school of singing is based upon
the many bad examplars Of it who have gone out
into the world with crude notion that distinct
enunciaton, and especially the pursuit of every
consonant, particularly the finals, must be pur-
sued TO the death was the be-all and end-all OF
the Wagner school OF singing. The majority Of
these either were incapable Of assimilating
Rniese's teachings or had been hurriedly licked
into shape for festival and thereafter fancied
further study unnecessary. What Kniese's in
struction could accomplish was eloquently ex-
emplifec IN the singing Of Nine. Nordica when
she returned from her seasons experience in
Bayreuth.
Kuiese was not originally a singing teacher,
nor was he ever a singing teacher in the COM
mon acceptance Of the term. Born in 1S4S. he
was educated 10 be a pianist and organist He
took up the direction Of singing societies and
went 10 Bayreuth TO prepare the choruses Of
'Parsifal" at its first performance in 1882. There
he remained till his death establishing the
"Stylbildungs Scnule," for which Wagner had
longer, in 1889. His labors as chorusmaster at
the festivals We're devoted 10 Die Meister.
singer" in 1888; "Tannhauser." in 1891. and
'Lohengrin.' in 1894; meanwhile, he had IN
dertaken his greater work of preparing the
principal singers for their parts. He composed
an opera and a book Of songs and wrote an
opera nbretto.
The tendency to a return to an appreciation
OF music OF the pre-classic period. which has
frequently been commented on in this journal
in connection with the concerts of old music
conducted by Mr.. Sam Frankie. has received
recognition in a recent publication by C. Schir-
Iner entitled The Golden Treasury of Piano
Music" title which reminds us Of the literary
fashions of fifty years and more ago, and which
Is historically misleading far the two
volumes before US are concerned. But in
this respect the ten volumes which TO follow
will doubtless set things right. The music in
the two volumes not written for the plano
forte but for it's predecessors-the spinet virgil
nal, harpsichord and clavichord The first vol
uTne contains pieces by the earliest English
composers for tle virginals and harpsichorc,
Byrde. Bull. Gibbons. Blow and Purcell; the
Italians Frescobadi Rossi, Pasquini and Ales-
sandro Scarlatti; the Germans Froberger, KeTil
Buxtehude. Pachelbel and Kuhnau. and the
Frenchmen Dumont, dAnglebert, Chambon-
nieres, Louis CoupeTin, Lully and Loeilet. The
second continues the historical sequence with
the great Couperin and Rameau, Murschhauser,
Mattheson and Muffat and Domenico ScarlattL
To many these have hitherto been little more than
names In the history OF music New possibili-
ties OF enjoyment are opened by the charm of
their cl2Yier works, which, beneath an old
fashioned exterior, contain infinite variety
Of expression and individuality. Health and