Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-12

tAGtiltlCHs DuL II ulhol pO oNAhANSSN ~NA0S
neither for volume of voice nor superior
vocal abilities have we yet heard his peer
in concert il America. He is undoubtedly
to be considered one of the greatest
bassos of the present day. | remember so
well what a disappointment Plunket
Green was, heariI him 70. the first time
in London when he attempted to sing this
beautiful Evening Star" of Wagner. 1t
was marred by his false intonation from
beginning to end. Mr.. Witherspoon's In
tonation was beyond criticism In the
and to adorn it with more delicate tone,
color and shading would almost seem i'm
possible.
Rarely has such enthusiasm reigned in
Los Angeles. Now We are anxious to see
what his work will be in the great ora
torio of Elijah
The orchestra Accomplishments were
well played. Mr.. Witherspoon spoke par
ticular.y of their sympathetic playing In
20 du, mein holder Abendstern." There
as well as in the Irish Rhapsody" the
harp was not enough in evidence In the
latter we could rot hear 1t at all, except
when very p passages were played we
heard a few chords.
s.
The minor hymphony of Mendelssohn
is familiar.y known as the Scotch" the
composer having given 1t that name In
his letters written from Rome In 1882. In
April, 1929, then in his twentieth year,
Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Eng
land, goirg from there to Scotland, where
he heard the Highland pipers, which
gave him an idea of the national melodies.
Then seeing the chape, where Mary was
crowned, "open to the sky, sur
rounded by grass ana ivy-every-
thing ruined and decayed," he
writes az found there the beginning 4
my Scotch symphony, and wrote on the
spot the first sixteen bars of the introduce
tion," announcing the thsme which not
only opens, but closes the movements,
thus giving an unmistakable clew to It's
meaning. This work suggested to him in
Scotland was sketched out In Italy and
finished in Germany. Mendelssohn fin
ished 1t in Berlin in 1912, and it was first
played at Gewandhaus, Leipsic, that
year, March 3. Upton says 1T is needless
to analyze the work theme by theme, or
indicate their musical treatment. 1t is
the stuff of which dreams are made, and
it is only necessary to call attention to
its general meaning to secure the enjoy
ment of the listener" Schumann said,
81 doubt whether a Scherz) more full of
genius has been written in modern
times"
February is the date for the fourth
concert, when they are to give the eighth
symphony of Beethoven, written in 1872
at Linz. Mr.. Hamilton is giving us su-
perior programs tLis season, and the Los
Angeles symphony is doing good work.
The program that Mr.. Herbert Wither-
spoon presents tc Los Angeles at his re-
cltal Tuesday is one of the every best
ever given here by any artist.
a
The romance of Jan Kubelik, the young
Bohemian wizard of the violin, who now
is touring America for the third time,
is like the story of Cinderella reversed
Here, in the place of handsome prince
and a beautiful obscure girl, we have a
boy born in a PEASANTS hut and a coun-
tess with one of the Oldest and most
honored names in Austro-Hungary.
Countess Marianne Czaky-Szell, beauti-
full rich and sought by princes of the
blood royal, seemed born for a brilliant
match. Jan Kubelik, a poor gardener S
son, appeared to have been born for a
life of toll and a peasant wife But the
God-given genius of Kubelik leveled all
ranks 1t made him king of violinists
if not a prince of powers. and he won
the radiant countess. The story of his
meeting with his wife and of their court
ship is intensely interesting, especially
as told by himself, as below:
BY JAN KUBELIK
'I first met my wife at a concert in
Debreczln, Hungary. I saw a eace in
one of the front boxes. 1t was face
well, you have seen a picture of my wife,
so 1 needn't tell you that It was beauti-
full. Delicate and refined looking, sur
rounded by a mass of golden hair,
never before had believed that 1 would
meet any girl like that.
whether | looked at that box all
through the concert or not do not know.
But know that l saw nothing else all
the time 1 was playing 1 do not know
whether l played well or badly. 1 did
10 TlIIf
learned that the party in the box was
the family of Graf Sell Of Debreczin,
lord chief justice of Hungary, and the
golden-haired girl was his daughter, the
Countess Mariana Czaky-Szell.
1.-THE next night as / drove to the con-
cert 1 had a vain hope that she might
be there again. I hardly thought 1t
reasonable, but 1 hoped 1t all the same
And when l stepped on the platform
hardly dared to look that way. Yet II
was not necessary, for before / looked
something told me she was there, and
l was right
"That night, among the people who
were kind enough to visit me after the
concert, were Graf Sell and his party.
This alone was more than had hoped
for. But when 1 was invited to the
gratis house to dinner I felt that must
stop ,efore 1t was too late. l knew that
I was in love and I thought I knew that
my humble origin would par me in the
sight of such family as that as a suitor,
at least. No man is more proud of his
father and mother than I am. alone
know how much owe to the love, the
care and self-sacrifice and the teachings
of my father.
"But, you see. people in Europe look
at position, BIRTH ETC.. In a different
light from the American theory, espe-
cially where marriage is concerned Most
peasant is bound to be a peasant all
his life. But that is not the idea my
father had In view. He had high am
bitions for all of us. but 1 think he GEN.
tered a good many of them on me. And
1t was not my idea to be a peasant.
although it often seems to me that most
of the truest hearts. the kindest natures
were among the simple folk In whose
midst 1 was brought up.
'But they who call them peasants do
not know this-would think nothing of II
If they did know. So 1 imagined I was
asked, not as friend, but as curiosity,
in the spirit of what you call lion-hunter
Therefore l refused their first invitation.
Pride, I thought, would not be the mo-
nopoly of those born in castles. was
sure that the gardeners father was a
finer man than the counts, and indeed.
no counts father ever showed me the
love that mine did for me.
but next day the invitation was re-
newed II was foolish pride that l had
indulged in, for I had mistaken the in
tentions of people whose nobility was
5oa,, n, their minds as well %, in thar