New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-11

House q Mshkin.
connected with the New York journals.
! The gentlemen commented very freely
/ on the event of the evening" namely,
/ the introduction of the piano, with an
orchestra, in so large building, ana
! their comments appeared TO me TO De
perfectly just and reasonable, although
/ very decidedly unfavorable. One mel
! dent made a very strong impression on
my youthful mind. and that was the
actions Of Mr.. de Meyer. The produc-
/ ton, as I remember IL, was not OF the
piano. with the orchestra, but the piano
/ had the stage and the orchestra per-
formed after each solo, which was
brilliant in the extreme. When Mr.. de
Never finished his solo and the or
chestra took up the refrain he would
lump up from his stool and enter into
earnest conversation with Mr.. Carl
Bergman, who, from a true sense OF
/ his duty to the distinguished artist,
leaned down 10 listen TO Mr. de Meyer
and at the same time endeayored TO
read the score and also lead the or
chestrR, which, as you can imagine, was
no easy operation. This part OF the
performance was repeated number of
times with the same details, and was
amusing in the extreme. You, who
knew Mr.. Bergman, can readily i'm
agine what an effort it was for him TO
be polite and at the same time attend
to his duties, and, above all, keep his
temper-not always an easy accom-
plishment for him. When Carl Berg
mann put his left hand in his trousers
pocket and led with his right there
was something wrong going on, and
we all knew it.
81 heard the overture to 'Tannhau-
SER given by the Philharmonic the first
time, and it was noted by all as
noisy about the only favorable view.
The brass certainly had the floor on
that occasion, and did their work nobly.
One of the New York papers in its
Monday issue ono Sunday papers in
those days. gave out that if Mr.. Berg
mann was going to introduce such mu-
sic at the Philharmonic concerts il
would break up the society in short
order. / don't think we took The New
York Tribune in those days"
Not only Mr.. Cocks letter, but also
the report from Berlin last week of
the death of Albert Niemann puts us
in reminiscent mood. Herr Niemann
was the first of New York's Tristans,
the greatest of her Siegmunds and
Tannhausers, and altogether, if we
may associate him with Lilli Lehman
and Anton Seidl, the most potential in
fuence in the propagation of Wagner's
drama that New York has ever felt.
He was a member of the Metropolitan
Opera House Company (then the own
ers of the property and directed by
their secretary, Edmund c. Stanton)
in the two seasons 1868, and his
first appearance was effected on No
vember 10, 1886. 1t was a notable
occasion, but not so much so as his
presentation of the character Of Iris
tan at the first American production of
Wagner's tragedy on December 1, 1886.
Many interesting memories are associ-
ated with that event. 1t was so mo-
mentous an affair in the estimation OF
the writer Of these notes that his re
view took the shape of series of
chapters in The Tribune for three
days. u evoked a dinner in honor Of
Mr.. Seidl and the principal artists con-
cerned, ostensibly given by the critics
of the newspapers, though (let it be
said in the service of TRUTH the costs
we're chiefly borne by few Wagner
enthusiasts who had conceived the
idea. The writer presided at the din
ner and had Herr Niemann at his right
hand. As may be imagined, there was
no lack of oratory, during which Me
mann sat silent, but intensely inter
ested. He had been asked if he would
not say something, but had begged to
be excused. Finally he leaned over to
the. POSTMASTER and begged permission
to speak. Then there came an amaz-
ing revelation of the artist emotions
He confessed that he was utterly be-
wildered at the artistic conditions
which he had found in America. A few
weeks before nothing had seemed fur
Their from his purposes than to visit
tho New World. In Germany no artist
ever dreamed Of going even to the
nearest municipal theatre "as guest
unless the manager had signed "dou-
ble-knotted" contract But here he
was in America without a contract at
all. Mr.. Stanton had called to see him
TO talk about an engagement, but he
had been out of town. Mr.. Stanton had
left an offer with his wife, and before
he had scarcely understood the case
he had found himself in New York.
Hero everything was bewildering. In
Germany artists were obliged TO kow-
tow humbly to newspaper eritics-make
formal calls upon them and beg their
kind attention. Here critics gave ban
quets 10 artists. The popular notion
in Germany vas that America was the
land OF vulgarians and dollars, but he
had been busy day after dry ever since
his coming looking with admiration
at the private collections Of paintings