New-York tribune., 1921-12-05
Bodanzky Revivcs
Forgotten Music
At Sunday Concert
c on Which the
Dust Has Gathered for
Decades Brought Forth
for Capable Performance
By H. +. krehbiel

By n. T. krehbiel
Whether with such intention or not,
Mr.. Bodanzky set forth much food for
gossip, comment, criticism (as YOU
please) when he arranged the program
for the concert Of the Friends of
Music, which took place in the Town
Hall yesterday afternoon. And Incl
dental happenings helped to keep hair
less chins as we'll as gray boards a-wag-
ging. The first composition on the pro-
gram was Mozart's overture to edo
menec," the dust on which has not been
disturbed for decades, even when on
two or three occasions the ballet music
from the opera has been taken off
the shelves for performance. Then
came Mendelssohn's Reformation Sym
phony," which we feel quite sure has
not been played in New York since MIR.
Seldl brought it out along with Wag-
ner's Centennial March" in March,
| 1889.
Seidl had been Wagner's secretary
and ccadjutor and believed in the price
OF empty orchestral bombast which the
composer foistered on the directors of
the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876,
and he was interested in Mendelssohn's
almost forgotten symphony probably
because the Amen formula of the Court
Church of Saxony had been utilized by
his master as the "Grail theme" in
"Parsifal," at that time sacrosanct
work to see which one had to make a
pilgrimage to Bayreuth. Why Mr.. Bo-
* q ,rlry Sac O%AI "a e 4 L
neglected for almost a generation we
do not know, and inquiry is unnec-
essary. Whether it piqued curiosity
or revived memories that had grown
dim, it was equally acceptable in the
painstaking performance which Mr..
brodanzky gave it.
Strauss Acknowledges Compliment
Then came another utterance which
belongs to the past, though it's author
was on hand to hear it and graciously
came down from the balcony to the
stage to acknowledge the plaudits of
the audience and express his thanks
to the performers. This was Richard
Strauss's serenade for wind instru-
ments, another Of those youthful sins"
for which the lovers of good music
find it easy to forgive the composer
Of the "Sinfona Domestica." Finally,
"fSiS NS2O iifS cNSSIpGS iIOiu Tie III
cidental music which Erich Korngold
composed some two years ago for a
German version of Much Ado About
Nothing" The German title OF Shake
speare's comedy. we believe, is "Viel
Larm UNI Nichts," and it is under that
title that we prefer to think of it in
connection with the music Of the COM
poser of "Die Tote Stadt."
Exactly one year ago, to a day, Mr..
kriesier played transcription Of the
suite made by Korngold for violin and
pianoforte. We were puzzled then az
to the relationship between the music
and Shakespeare's comedy, and the
fact that we have now heard it as
written, instead of in transcription,
has brought no elucidation. The over
ture Is one Of those trippingly merry
things which might fit any play without
a too large infusion of gloom in it.
The grotesque march for Dogberry and
the Watch. is capital bit of foolery
fsom the fact that Dogberry and
Verger present themselves to the Ger
man man sense Of humor as Crabapple and
Plumwine. But what incidents are re-
ferred to by "Maidens in the Bridal
Chamber" and the Garden Scene" we
cannot surmise. The music leaves US
in the lurch in both cases. That of the
latter is plainly designed to be love
music.
No Sentiment in Melody
There are two garden scenes in
Much Ado About Nothing" one in
Act III, where Hero and Ursula "angle
for Beatrice" who is "couched in the
woodbine coverture" Ga pretty case of
Act V, in which there is some verbal
fencing which makes the sparks fly,
but not word in the sentimental
mood expressed in the music-not even
the line, suggested by Mr.. Humston,
the program annotator: 81 will live
in thy heart, die in thy lap and be
buried in thine eyes" There's no
sighing lover in such speech
We confess also to being at loss
about the concluding number. the most
spontaneous and delightful bit in the
set. which the composer calls a horn
pipe, though it is not hornpipe in
/ the sense of Shakespeare's time or
that Of to-day.
The scene of the comedy is laid in
| Italy, and NOBODY ever danced horn
pipes in Italy unless it was an actor
IN an English comedy. The hornpipe
Is dlstlnctlvely an English thing.
Shakespeare's people were all English
men, of course, no matter what their
| supPoseu haDitat, put ~ is little
singular that Mr.. Korngold should have
chosen q title for his concluding dance
which. is referred to only once in all
the plays and then in reference to a
form of tune only. The Clown in "Win-
ter's Tale speaks of the one Puritan
among the sheepshearers of his sister
who sang psalms to hornpipes." But
Mr.. Korngold's alleged hornpipe is a
jolly piece, and it's performance sent
the audience out into the dismal snow
storm in q iolly mood.