New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-03-26
MUSIC
THE BRAHMS FESTIVAL
A First Concert with Thrilling
Novelty.

~ =
or many close observers of local affairs,
that such festival would scarcely appeal
"a tho multitude near the close of a sea
sor ovcrburdened with high class music
.,d hsg-ridden by opera, there was a fine
audience in attendance, and great deal
If enthusiasm, obviously spontaneous,
erected the performance of every feature
~ tho programme. In the symphony this
enthusiasm was so great as to call twice
for acknowledgement on the part of the
entire band, Yet the climax of the even
,rn.s work was not achieved by the or
cbestra, but by the chorus. which had A
much more difficult task to perform.
As las been announced, there are to be
four festival concerts, those that remain
falling on Wednesday and Friday after
moons and Saturday evening. The pro-
srsmmc Of tho first concert consisted of he
Academic Festival Overture" COp. sOI,
Mamie" for chorus and orchestra (Op. So,
the symphony in c minor, No. l (Op. 69,
and the "Triumphlied," or Hymn Of Tri-
umph" DOp 30, for double chorus, barry
tone solo and orchestra. Only the last Of
these works was new to New York, but a
TOW words Of history and description may
10 ,uohen Of each. The Academic Festi-
,sI Overture" Was composed by Brahms
re an expression Of gratitude 10 the Uni.
verslrv of RTeSisu, which in March. 1873
conferred the degree Of Doctor of PhiloS-
ophy on him. At its first performance,
which took place I'm Breslau on January l.
1851. Brahms conducted and the seats Of
honor we're occupied by the rector and
senate Of the university and representa-
tives Of the philosophical faculty. The
thematc contents are tunes Of students
songs blended with original melodies, the
former represented hv the Burschen-
schaftsned beginning Wiz natten gebsuet
Elm stattliches Haus,' the so-called
"Landesvater" which the German students
sing while going through the ceremony Of
thrusting their rapiers through their CAPS
and vowirs fidelity 70 their Burschenschaft
ana country. the Fuchsied. or freshmans
song beginning Was Kommt dost Won
der H0h?" (which the curious student may
find i'm English In LongfellowD and at the
last "Gaudeamus igitur," which has be-
come universal and IN the performance Of
which last night Mr.. Walter Ddmrosch
enlisted the help of the choir.
Mamie" is less familiar composition,
and, so FAR as we know, has been produced
only once in New York. This was at r
concert Of the Musical Art Society on De-
cember u, 1908. IT is threnody, and has
= pathetic biographical interest. The poem,
by Schiller. is an echo of Greek art form
Of such vast antiquity that it has been
Surmised that tho Grecsns borrowed 1t
from the ancient Egyptians. Herodotus,
listening TO the Egyptian 'Maneros that
is the lament of Isis on the death OF
Csiris-recognized in il the melody of the
Greek hymn on the death of Limos. the
mythical son OF Apollo and music master
Of Orpheus and Herakles Schiller wrote
his ode out of desire TO bend the German
tongue 10 the contours Of the Greek hexsYn-
oter; Brahms set il TO music to pour out
4 musical libation 10 the names OF a
friend. Anselm Feuerbach, an artist 10
whose mother the score is dedicated. It
had its first performance at q concert con-
Quoted by Brahms In Zurich in December,
1881.
Of the familiar symphony little more
rood he said than that. after II seems TO
have been i'm its composers mind some ten
years or more II was performed for the
first time from manuscript in Carlsruhe on
November (. 1876. and published something
less than year later 1t had its first per-
Torrance in America at a concert Of the
symphony Society under the direction Of
Dr Leopold Damrosch in the middle of De
Cember, 1877, and was played by the Phil
harmonic Society under Theodore Thomas
week later on December %. 1t would
he a waste Of time 10 count UP the number
n times that II has been performed since.
II had been heard twice this season from
the Philharmonic Society, once from the
Niuues polls Orchestra and once from the
Boston Orchestra before last night and a
sixth performance is impending. when Mr..
Nikisch comes with an English band next
month.
The Hymn Of Triumph" was composed
10 celebrate the victory Of Germany over
france in 1901, and the score is dedicated
n the King OF Prussia, who. as a result
OF that war, became the German Emperor
IL Is 2 grandiose work. and one which not
only presents stupendous difficulties to the
performers but calls for an extraordinary
occasion II its spirit is rightly TO he appro-
GATED. II is most diStnctively a festival
composition, demanding large forces and
extraordinary zeal and enthusiasm. IT is
ot often performed even IN Germany, and
there Is nothing strange IN the fact that
Now York should have had to wait so long
before hearing it. a little more extraordi-
nary, some will be tempted TO think, is the
circumstance that its first performance out.
side Of Germany took place at a Cincinnati
festival on May II, 1915. Theodore Thomas
n'ng the conductor As this writer can
testify however from personal experience,
mat performance Was a very imperfect one,
lot at all 10 be compared with that Of las,
night the chorus being too raw and I'M
W'"ldr 10 cope with the difficulties Of the
score
Tho text Of tho work, which Is divided
INTO three parts, Brahms selected from the
nineteenth chapter Of Revelations, incud-
ing some Of It's most vivid passages In
the hrst part Brahms makes use of a theme
which Is remotely very remotely sug-
S"stNe Of the melody best known here as
mat Of God Save the King" but sung i'm
russia, SaAony and other German coun-
tries 70 words beginning Hell dir i'm
SeSerkranz' I'm the second he permits the
orchestra TO intouc an old German church
,horale' which has also GOT into the
English hymn books as Now thank we
al Our God" As for the rest it is a. ire
mendously jubllant proclamation. freouent-
~ IA inc spirit OF Handel. but a hundred
sS complicated IN its coutrapuntal
Wv" SS anything that Handel ever wrote.
"o'k OIL splendid power and beauty.
was tremendous task which the two
directed by the Damrosch broth
"u"ertooNi but it was nobly accom-
ne Oratorio Society, in particular,
never put finer achievement to its
''I' than the singing Of Mamie" and its
"' ,he Hymn Of Triumph" was more
H.4f 4s iy.tstI..