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A Coincidence Author(s): Henry Johnson Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 48, No. 770 (Apr. 1, 1907), p. 246 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/903548 Accessed: 01-03-2015 03:19 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Musical Times Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Times. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 01 Mar 2015 03:19:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 246 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-APRIL I, 1907. representingHandel as an 'impostor,' which Mr. Bourne ;61,800 forthat deserving charity. His solos on thatoccasion hurls at ' certain critics,' and of 'making mountainsof were Liszt's ' Reminiscences di Lucia' and two of molehills,'which he firesinto space, are too impersonalto Mendelssohn's'Songs withoutwords.' On March27, 1849, call fordisavowal or reply. There is, however,one point he appearedat one of JohnElla's Musical Union concerts. of factraised by him on which I ought perhapsto express At Hamburg he gave an orchestral concert at which an opinion. JennyLind sang. We read in the ' Memoir of Madame Mr. Bourne affirmsthat it is by Handel's own, not by Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt' that 'They did much music his borrowed,movements that he will be remembered- together. He played and she sang; the memoryof that his strongsituations are his own, and the episodes that Mendelssohnwas a commonbond between them. He began lead up to them in some cases the work of other men. to persuadeher to sing again those songs of Mendelssohn This statementis, I consider,made too generally. In the which,for two years(since his deathin 1847) she had found ' Messiah,'by whichHandel is predominantlyremembered, it impossiblefor her to touch.' Thus a bond of union was researchhas not, so far as I know, detected any non- formed between singer and pianist which ripened into Handelian materials. But in his other masterpiece,life-long affection. ' Israel in Egypt,' some of the numbersmost indissolubly It was in May, 1851, that JennyLind invitedhim to boundup withhis memory,including some of theirstrongest America, where she was in theheight of a triumphanttour, situations,depend on music assigned to other composers. in order to fill the post of accompanistto her,vacated by The evidence collected in my book proves this, I think, Benedict,who had returnedto England. On February5, quite conclusively. I heartilywish that it did not. 1852, at Boston, Otto Goldschmidtand JennyLind were Yours truly, married. They afterwardssettled at Dresden, and during SEDLEY TAYLOR. the nextfew years they sang and playedat manyconcerts in Europe, includingthe BritishIsles. From 1858 theylived permanentlyin England. Aboutthat time Mr. Goldschmidt A COINCIDENCE. was organistof two churches in the neighbourhoodof Wimbledon, where he resided, one of these being to mention must SIR,-The coincidence I am about St. John's Church,Putney. A more permanentresult of be my apology for addressingyou. Last evening I was his interestin churchmusic is furnished ' The Chorale when by reading an old number of the Spectator (1712) Book for England' (Preface dated November, 1862), a I came across a letteror proposal of Mr. Renatus Harris, useful collection of which he and Sterndale for an over the westdoor of hymn-tunes organ builder, erecting organ Bennettjointly edited. St. Paul's Cathedral. To-dayin the CamberwellLibrary I In and Mr. Goldschmidtconducted the Lower and read 1863 I866 picked up by chanceTHE MUSICALTIMES, your Rhine Musical Festival; in 1863 he became a professorof interestingarticle on the organ of St. Paul's Cathedral. I the at the of Music, and he was THE MUSICAL pianoforte Royal Academy do not think I have ever read TIMES before, Vice-Principal of that institutionfrom 1866 to 1868. hence the coincidence. Between and he had muchto do with love and I 1864 1869 organizing AlthoughI do not knowa noteof music,I it, the music at School, then under Dr. Temple's than once when I have stoodnear the Rugby have more thought, headmastership.The Royal orderof Wasa Vasa of Sweden westdoor of St. Paul's and heard the organfrom the nave, Goldschmidt'snative was conferred be foran After (Madame country) upon whata splendidposition that would organ. him, also the rare honour of the great medal forArt and reading Renatus Harris's letter, and your article, my Literature,with 'Commander Ribbon of the Polar Star,' sympathiesare withhim. and he was a memberof the Swedish Royal Academyof Yours, &c., Music. In Englandhe held several officialappointments : HENRY JOHNSON. Memberof the Councilof the Royal College of Music from March 7, I907. the commencement; honorarymember of the Royal Academyof Music; honorarymember of the Royal College of Organists; member (and formerlyDirector) of the PhilharmonicSociety ; vice-presidentof the Madrigal @bituarp. Society; vice-presidentof the MusicalAssociation ; member of the WorshipfulCompany of Musicians. His last in was at a courtdinner of the MR. OTTO GOLDSCHMIDT. appearance public company on JulyIo, 1906, when,in commemorationof the fiftieth A familiarfigure has been removedfrom the musical life of anniversaryof Schumann'sdeath, he played,at the age of London by the death of MR. OTTO GOLDSCHMIDT,which seventy-seven,the composer'sbeautiful Andante Variations in event, we are sorry to place on record,occurred at his B flatfor two pianofortes,with remarkable verve and artistic residence, I, Moreton Gardens, South Kensington,on insight,his colleague being Mrs. Cooper, wife of the February24, in his seventy-eighthyear. Master of that year. As chairmanof the Mendelssohn Like Mendelssohnand Brahms,Otto Goldschmidtwas ScholarshipCommittee, Mr. Goldschmidtheld a rightful bornat Hamburg,in whichcity he drew his firstbreath on place, as his illustriouswife laid the foundationof that August 29, 1829. His earliestteachers of pianoforteand much-covetedprize by a performanceof 'Elijah' whichshe harmonywere two Hamburg musicians,F. W. Grund gave in Exeter Hall on December 15, 1848, a year after and JakobSchmitt, the latterthe composerof an opera on the composer'sdeath. the subject of 'Alfred the Great.' At the age of fourteen He composed the oratorioof 'Ruth,' produced at the Goldschmidtbecame one of the earliest studentsat the Hereford Musical Festival of 1867, and subsequently Leipzig Conservatorium,in the same year(1843) that it was performedin London (Exeter Hall, November 17, 1869), foundedby Mendelssohn. One ofhis fellow-studentswas an and at Hamburgand DUisseldorf.His otherworks include Englishmannamed W. S. Rackstraw,afterwards better 'Music,' a choral song forsoprano solo and femalevoices knownas W. S. Rockstro. At the Conservatoirehe studied (Leeds Festival, 1898); a Pianofortetrio; 'Zw6lf grosse underMendelssohn (pianoforte and composition),Plaidy and Etuden' for pianoforte; two duets for two pianofortes; Schumann; he also took some privatepianoforte lessons songs, part-songs, &c. fromMadame Schumann. One of the most important events of Mr. Goldschmidt's Afterspending two years playing and teaching in his artistic life was his conductorship of the Bach Choir for nine nativecity, Mr. Goldschmidtwent, in 1848,to Parisin order years, 1876 to 1885. It was in I875 that Mr. Arthur Duke to studyunder Chopin, but the Revolutionplaced a barrier Coleridge got together a number of amateurs with a view of to that project; however,he was presentat the last Paris performingBach's B minor Mass, with the result that it was concertgiven by the pianist-composer,of whose wonderfulgiven complete forthefirst time in England, at St.James's Hall, playinghe always retainedmost vividrecollections. From on April 26, 1876, and under Mr. Goldschmidt's direction. Paris he came to London and made his firstappearance in Into the preparation of this colossal work he threw his whole Englandat a concertgiven by JennyLind on July31, 1848 heart and soul, not a little stimulated by Ithe artistic fervour (not in 1849, as stated in Grove's 'Dictionary of Music of his gifted wife, who herself sang in the chorus on that and Musicians'), in aid of the BromptonHospital for eventful occasion and at subsequent concerts of the Society. Consumption-aconcert which realized the handsome sum of In spite of a certain reserve of manner, Mr. Goldschmidt This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 01 Mar 2015 03:19:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions.