Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1913-01-14
THE FOUR ARTISTS co.

cember Lyceumite and Talent in which
a three column article, written by
Ralph Parlette, appears. 1t is a laud-
atory of the Four Artists Company,
which is composed of F. w. Kick
busch, baritone; Jacob Reuter-, violin
ist; Miss Van Hoose, pianist, and Miss
Lillian Ringsdorf, soprano.
The writer says it is the greatest
concert on the road. He says of Mr..
Kickbusch:
"a big man comes to the stage.
He is big in height, big in girth, big
in countenance, and as he stands
najestically there a big cheer greets
him. f. w. Kickbusch, the fourth
of the Four Artists, and their
manager, sends forth that ponder
Gus voice that pushes out the
walls, and yet is SO sweet, clear
and sympathetic. Few of US have
ever heard such robust baritone, or
ever enjoyed the singing of man so
well. Like the Victor dog at the
phonograph, we hear the masters
voice, and there comes rapturous
| response.
''Kickbush sang for years in grand
opera in Germany. In addition, he
was Assistant Am. consul az Stettin un-
der Cleveland and Mckinley; studied
with the masters in Germany and has
had great deal of experience singing
extensively abroad and in America.
| 1t is a pleasure to welcome such an
artist in the lyceum fold"
The writer, after tribute to Jacob
Reuter- the wonderful violinist, says
of him:
"Reuter has a violin so precious he
rarely plays on it, but keeps it locked
year after year in the safe. l am not
going to tell a press-agent violin yarn.
He was going down Milwaukee
street after attending violin auc-
tion, where fine yioliLs were expected
to be put on sale. He found nothing
worthy and turned away in disappoint-
ment. AS he passed saloon he heard
the notes of violin that he recog-
nized as unusually good. He pushed
inside, TO find drunken man lolling
at table playing, or trying to play.
sLeG me see that VIOLIN"
| The man handed Reuter- the instru-
ment, an old, broken, bulged, cracked
thing with carved head. He struck
note from the G-string that simply
thrilled him. He had never heard
such a wonderful note.
II want to buy this violin"
| The drunken man snatched it from
him. He told him how that violin
had been in the family from grand
father down. Reuter- argued and
argued that he should sell it, for the
owner was player who could never
appreciate such fine instrument.
But he held it the tighter.
Reuter- went out of the saloon SIM
ply frantic to get the instrument, for
now he knew it was De Salo, al
most priceless. There are very few
De Salos in the world. He went to
the bank and got a pile of bright new
bills that had never been used. He
hurried back to the saloon and COW
cred the table with these bills. The
drunken fiddler looked at them un-
steadily. He felt them, fondled them
then with a shiver and with the tears
running down his cheeks, he said.
Take the fiddle
| He hurried away with his prize. A
violin maker put it in water and the
venerable wreck soaked apart into
sixty-eight pieces, into which it had
been broken. He put it together,
working weeks at the delicate job,
glueing piece by piece of the old, frail
wood back to exact shape.
One day it was done. A number of
yiolinists gathered to hear Reuter-
play it for the first time. At the first
stroke of the bow he burst into tears
of joy-the note was so grand, and
the yiolinisJs bowed their heads. The
tone was grander and sweeter than
| ever.
You must know violins to love them,
and then you will know why Reuter-
loves that old De Salo with the love
of mother for her babe, and mocks
every offer to buy it.
Yesterday Reuter- played that violin
for me. He let his hungry soul speak
thru it, and tell in wordless eloquence
the story of his own life tragedies.
For Reuters lifeis almost exactly the
story of David Warfeld's emusic
Master.n
And | didn't try to stop my tears
for they were relief.
| ] will never think of music as be
fore. 1t will always be to me more
divine thing. For have been weel
with the -Four Artists. And / SCI
that our lives are like the old De
4 Salo -