New-York tribune., 1922-03-13
Beethoven 'Ieonore No. -
Last Presented Here i'm
1909, Would Be Popular
if Heard More Frequently
ScheIlinsl Plays Own Piece
impressions Of an Artist 5
Life" Deals With Various
Noiables Of Music World
BY H. f. Krehbiel

nonlc Society in Carnegie Hall yes.
tordaY was Of the so-called popular
order which Mr. Theodore Thomas usec
% reserve for special afternoons and
summer-night garden concerts ard MIR
Stranshy Tor the private delectation
II the members of the society at an
annual gathering in hotel. 1t be-
gan seriously enough with a
ittle-known overture by Beethoven
fLeonorc No ~ and ended with one
of Johann Strauss's waltzes Wiener
Blut.' 4 tendency toward music of
easy enjoyment has been noticeable OF
.ate also in the Sunday concerts of the
Symphony Society ard is readily JUS
eiied in view Of the flood of orchestral
concerts by which New York is now
deluged. There were seven of such
entertainments IN the city last week
and there win be seven rnis, count
ing concert by the organization
whose purpose II is TO increase the
aumber Of orchestral musicians in the
city Obviously if the present number
Of symphonic concerts is to be main
tslned the conductors must leave the
mountainous where the higher forms
Of instrumental music are 20 be found
and make search IN the valleys where
there is q greater plenitude of growth.
The music need be none the less ex-
cellent on that account, however, as
Mr. Mengelbergs program showed. Be
tween the classic overture and the
dance there fell d set of variations for
Ar no 10
tegral factor entitled "Gmpressions
from an Artists Life in the perform
ance of which the composer, Mr.. Ernest
Schelling, took hand Then came the
first set of pieces selected by Grieg
from his incidental music, to Ibsens
drama Peer Gynt'; Berlioz's trans
scription for orchestra of Weber's In
vitation TO the Dance" and then the
Niennese waltz.
Schellings Piece Given Here in 1916
Mr. Schelling's music was scarcely
moro unfamiliar to the audience than
Beethoven's overture. 1t was composed
about seven years ago and played here
by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on
January 6, 1915, when it was quite new.
In a general way it has a model in
Cigars Enigma" variations, which are
doubly enigmatic in that they are
based on q fundamental theme which
the composer refuses to disclose.
We thought we had discovered the
secret and said so two or three years
ago; we think SO yet despite Sir Ed
wards refusal to confirm our guess.
SO long as he wishes to maintain an
air of mystery about something that is
admittedly only in his mind and can be
sublec to a new metamorphosis
every day, his secret is as safe as If 1t
were sealed with the seal of Solomon.
Mr. Schelling is less cryptic-he states
his theme at the beginning and only
asks us TO guess at the persons and
incidents and things that provided him
with the impressions to which he gave
musical utterance. And to some OF
these he furnished illuminative clews.
Considering the genesis of the piece
especially that it was first made audi
Bile in Boston, it is not difficult to
recognize the mask of the Boston band
IN "B. S. o." or DR.. Muck IN TX. NJ"
or Georges Longy in &c. l." (seeing
that the characteristic of this varla-
tion is an oboe solo), or Mr.. Paderewsh XII
IN that gentleman's initials. a. j.
p" or Henry Wood in ''St. Petersburg
H. W." or Fritz Kreisler in "Fr. kr.,
or Willem Mengelberg in "W. M The
chief difficulty is in finding anything
CDHTaCteIlSllC
the music to which they have been at
tached as labels The portraits are
miniatures, it Is true, but subject 8
lneaments ought to be recognizable
even in a miniature. It is quite as
satisfactory to listen to the music and
ignore the legends. There are too
many of the little pieces, though Mr..
. Mengelberg apparently spared US
pair of them yesterday, and too great
= likeness between some OF them to
rivet attention fairly; but there is
winning, ingenious and effective mu-
sic in the work, not the least winning
ingenious and effective being the
pianoforte solo, from which we are
disposed TO remove tho label "B." and
substitute "E. S." The composer-per-
former was warmly applauded for his
work.
Rarely Heard "Ieonore" Overture
One would scarcely think that an
overture by Beethoven, composed 100
Years before Mr.. Scheling's piece and
known TO the world for more than
ninety years, would be almost a COM
plete stranger to our concert lists,
but so it is. The overture "Leonore
No. 1" was the third of the four over
lures which Beethoven wrote as intro
auctions to his opera "tidelio." Famili
erity with the third of the overtures
bearing the name of "Leonore" (Which
Beethoven thought ought to have been
the title of his opera makes it hard to
believe that "Leonore No. l" did not
precede Nos. and 3, but was com
posed for a projected performance in
Prague in 1903 which fell through.
Yet such is the fact as established
after much inquiry and controversy.
We can only marvel that the mind
which could create the "Leonore" over
ture No. 2, then put it into the crucible
and bring forth the No. 8, could, ap-
parently in obedience to popular taste
II want of taste and intelligence), set
itself to work again and bring forth
the No. / and the introduction which
now bears the name of the opera and
is generally played in the theater But
.he overture which we heard yesterday
has as much right to repeated per
formances as some pieces of its kind
from the same mind which are played
ten times where this is played once.
1t has some of the melodious mate
nal of the opera in it (the beautiful
slow melody of Florestan's air and a
motif from it's allegro) and, after a
somewhat disappointing introduction,
It's first section has delightful fresh
ess and verve The last time it was
heard in New York was in November, /
1909, when the late Mr.. Mailer played .
{ with its three companions in the I
Beethoven Cycle Of the Philharmonic
s4-,fe u 4