The World of Music News

At Home August 1914

THE degree of LL.D. has been conferred upon David Rispham by his alma mater, Haverford College, Pa.

THE death of Hamilton S. Gordon, head of the music publishing firm of H. S. Gordon & Co., New York, is deeply regretted by many friends.

THE widow of Dudley Buck, who died recently, left an estate valued at $89,970. The estate was divided equally among her two sons and daughter.

THE University of Yale has conferred the degree of Doctor of Music upon Jean Sibelius, the Finnish composer, who is on a visit to this country.

MAURICE Devries, a well known baritone and vocal teacher in Chicago, died suddenly in Chicago recently, in which city he was engaged in teaching. He was born in New York in 1852.

CONGRATULATIONS are due to William H. Rieser, who recently celebrated his thirtieth year of service as organist at St. Mary's Church in Rondout, Kingston, N.Y. Mr. Rieser was for several years vice president of the New York State Music Teachers Association.

VICTOR Herbert has recovered from his operation for appendicitis, with which he was attacked in London on his way to Paris for the production of his opera Madeleine by the Boston Company. He has now returned to America.

THE value of music as a therapeutic agent is evidently fully realized at Bellevue Hospital, New York, where a number of the doctors of the medical staff have formed an orchestra among themselves and give occasional concerts for the benefit of their patients.

ALFRED Hertz, the conductor of German opera at the Metropolitan, New York, recently got married to Miss Lily Dorn, a Viennese concert singer. This matrimonial venture came somewhat as a surprise to his friends, who did not know that he contemplated any such step.

THOSE who love the colossal in music should have gone in July to Ocean Grove, N. J., to hear the performance of The Messiah given under the direction of the energetic Tali Esen Morgan. One thousand voices were in the chorus, and the soloists were Bessie Tudor, Mary Jordan, Dan Beddoe and Henri Scott.

THE thirteenth commencement of The Guilmant Organ School, founded by Dr. William C. Carl, was a success. Strangely enough there were at this thirteenth commencement thirteen graduates. We wish everybody concerned thirteen times as much good luck as they might ordinarily have!

THE Cincinnati Orchestra is doing splendidly under the able leadership of Dr. Kunwald. The report for the year shows a surplus of $1,785. As most of the symphony orchestras in the leading American cities are conducted at a financial loss, the Cincinnati achievement is a matter of genuine congratulation.

THE "pageant" idea is gaining ground in America. The most recent convert among American cities is St. Louis. A pageant has been given illustrating the history of the city, and the four performances were attended by no less than 500,000 people. Frederick Converse and Ernest R. Kroeger composed much of the music for this historic event.

MADISON Square Garden, New York, is going to be converted into the semblance of a vast Gothic cathedral for the production of Humperdinck's Miracle. The Miracle, it will be remembered, was written for a London production, and resulted in a serious breakdown in the health of the composer. The New York production is to involve an outlay of $250,000.

THE annual meeting of the Oliver Ditson Society for the relief of needy musicians was held at the residence of the late Mr. Ditson in Boson recently. The report by the president showed a large number of cases in which needed assistance had been given during the past year, and the usefulness of such a fund was again made clear. The following officers were elected: President, Arthur Foote; Trustees, A. Parker Browne, George W. Chadwick, Charles H. Ditson; Clerk, Charles F. Smith; Assistant Clerk and Treasurer, Arthur R. Smith. Applications can be made to any of these officers, post office address, 6 Newbury Street, Boston. Attention is called to the fact that this fund exists solely to help in cases of destitution, and is not for educational purposes.

CARL Christian Muller, a well known composer, died recently in his eighty-third year at his home in New York. He was born in Meiningen, Germany, and his compositions were regarded with great favor by no less than Franz Liszt and Anton Rubinstein. He came to this country in 1854, first working in a piano factory but later obtaining more congenial employment as a teacher at the New York College of Music. His compositions range from dance pieces to symphonies. Dudley Buck is said to have regarded Muller as "the greatest contrapuntist in the country".

THE Norfolk festival, marking the twenty-eighth annual festival of the Litchfield County Choral Union, was exceptionally interesting this year. Henry K Hadley and Jean Sibelius were the principal figures as each had been commissioned to write a work for the festival. Hadley's tone poem, Lucifer; was exceedingly well received, and Sibelius' Pohjola's Daughter proved to be equally acceptable. A new work of the late Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was also presented. Among the soloists and others who took a prominent part in the festival were Dr. Arthur Mees, Earl Cartwright, Marion Baar, Herbert Witherspoon, Sophie Breslau, Alma Gluck and Paul Althouse.

THE famous pianist Gabrilowitsch is said to possess a phenomenal memory, but according to our valued contributor, Mr. John Towers, he is not the only musician of note who is so gifted. "We have here in St. Louis", records Mr. Towers, "a home product, nearly self-taught, who, amongst other big musical feats, can play something over thirteen hundred pieces actually from memory. Nothing comparable thereto is recorded in any published work on music, and I take off my hat to Ernest R. Kroeger". We also take off our hat to this distinguished musician, who was among the prize winners in the recent prize contest for piano compositions inaugurated by The Etude.

CHICAGO has been unfortunate this year in the number of her musical leaders who have passes away. First Emil Liebling and Dr. H. S. Perkins, now comes the news that the Chevalier N. B. Emanuel is no more. Emanuel was of English-Italian birth, and was educated at the Leipzig Conservatory. After a distinguished career as a conductor in Europe, he came to this country with Henry W. Savage as conductor of the Castle Square Opera Company. He became well known as the founder of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and later conducted some brilliant orchestral concerts in Chicago. Latterly he has been choral and assistant director of the Chicago Grand Opera Company. He was sixty-six years old when he died. Emanuel has been much liked in Chicago both for the sake of his distinguished musicianship and for his genial personality.

BENJAMIN Jepson, New Haven't "Grand Old Man", for fifty years dean of public school music teachers in American, recently died at the age of eighty-two. Though born in England, he came to this country at the age of five, and has had a distinguished military career, as he served in the war to make Kansas a free State in 1857 with such distinction as to rise from the ranks to a lieutenancy. He kept up his military work and finally acquired a captain's commission in the regular army. His musical work in Yale has been widely recognized - so much so that a "Jepson Scholarship" has been founded at Yale University School of Music, and Mr. Jepson was given the honorary degree of Master of Arts by Yale in 1912.

A NOVEL contest has been arranged in Chicago designed to favor pianists who have received all their training in this country. Last season the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Glenn Dillard Gunn, gave two popular concerts of American music with such success that he is arranging for a concert in the fall at which a pianist trained in America will appear.  The pianist will be selected from candidates fulfilling the requirements set forth by the committee. These requirements include a stipulation that the pianist has received his training solely in America, and in addition to playing the concerto in A Minor, No. !, by E. A. MacDowell, is able to play one of the larger works by J. S. Bach. Besides playing at the concert, the winner will be awarded $200.

THE convention at Saratoga New York State Music Teachers Association was exceptionally well attended this year, the number of music teachers present approximating 3,000. The speakers at the Harmony Conference, over which Dr. George Coleman Gow, of Vassar College presided, were Dr. Gow, Frederick Schlieder and J. Warren Andrews. The Piano Conference was presided over by Mr. James Francis Cooke, Editor of The Etude, the speaks being Miss Mary Venable, of Cincinnati, Perlee V. Jervis, of Brooklyn, and Hans Schneider, of Providence R.I. Mr. Walter L Bogert presided over the Musical Conference at which the principal speakers were Perley Dunn Aldrich, of Philadelphia, Dr. A. Madeley Richardson, of New York. In addition to these conferences, excellent concerts were given and officers appointed for the ensuing year. The new president will be Mr. Frederick Schlieder, organist of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, New York, who will no doubt prove equal to the difficult task of following the retiring president, Mr. Alfred Hallam.

THE Booster Club of Southern California offers a prize of $2,000 for the best setting of a four stanza poem entitled "California". The compositions are to be arranged fro voice and piano in the usual song form. Band and orchestra scores may also be submitted at the option of the composers. More than one compositions may be submitted by the composer. The contest closes September 1, 1914. Particulars may be secured by addressing N. Banks Criegler, 609 Hellmann Building, Los Angeles, Cal.

THE noted philanthropist and single tax advocate, Joseph Fels, of Philadelphia, who died recently was also a musical enthusiast. He was of Jewish birth, and did much to help young Jewish musicians. The most noted of those who received his help is Efrem Zimbalist.

STATISTICS show that 20,857 people attended the sixteen concerts given by the Auditorium Symphony Orchestra in Milwaukie. The concerts took place on Sunday afternoons, and were under the direction of Hermann A. Zeitz.

"AS for the 'great composer' of America", said Felix Weingartner in an interview accorded to Musical America, "who knows where he is or when he will come? If signs are certainties he will certainly come. Who knows where from? There are no factories for geniuses, but suddenly where the soil is propitious the fruit appears. You know as much as I do about the next great American composer"!

THE North American Saengerbund held its thirty-fourth Saengerfest in Louisville, Ky., June 24th, 25th, and 26th. Nothing in American musical life is so encouraging as the manner in which these German singers are keeping up the traditions and customs of the fatherland in the new world. The same spirit is shown by other foreign born Americans, and the results must add greatly to our musical stature. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra took part in these festival concerts. Charles G. Schmidt was elected president for next year.

The Etude Magazine August 1914