Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Review Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 27, No. 517 (Mar. 1, 1886), p. 166 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3365196 Accessed: 18-10-2015 06:03 UTC

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This content downloaded from 134.121.47.100 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 06:03:48 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions I66 THE MUSICAL TIMES. MARCHI, I886.

Notturnein B flcrt. For the Pianoforte. Composed by M. AmbroiseThomas, the composerof " Mignon" and G. J. Rubini. [E. Ascherberger and Co.] of "Hamlet," is engaged upon a new operatic work entitled " Miranda,"which is to be brought out at the WHATEVERpraise is due for writing a melodious and Opera. The libretto is from the pen of M. Jules easily playable little Sketch for the pianoforte, has certainly Barbier,and the suject is borrowedfrom Shakespeare's been earned by the composer of this graceful Notturne. " Tempest." There is no attempt at what is termed " treatment " of the 'sOpera " BenvenutoCellini " is about to themes; but the passages lie well uXnderithehands, and the be revivedat the Paris OperaComique, with M. Talazac piece may be conscientiously recommended both to teachers in the title part. and pUpils. Accordingto an arrangementmade between the Town Soft VoValxtatiesfior the OrgX. By George Calkin. Councilof Paris and the directorsof the OdeonTheatre Book VII. [Novello, Ewer and Co.] the latterhave agreed to reserveten afternoonperformances of opera during a season for the special admissionof HEREwe have six short pieces of two pages each, all7 as sixteenhundred children from the elementaryschools of the- title declares, intended for soft stops, but well con- the capital. The operas performedare to be standard trasted with one another. They are written with much works,and the sum paid by the councilfor this arrange- elegance and refinement of style. Some of them might ment is to be I5,000 francs. have been signed by Henry Smart, and higher praise than M. Pasdeloup,the celebratedConductor of the now ex- this it is impossible to bestow. tinct ConcertsPopulaires of Paris,has just openeda course of instruction in concerted instrumental music in the French capital which is attracting a great number of FOREIGN NOTES. pUpilS. THE recent hostile demonstrations directed against the The technicaldirection of the forthcomingperformances appearance at one of the Berlin Philharmonic Concerts of at Bayreuthof " Tristanund Isolde7 and " " has M. Saint-Saens, on the part of an ultra-patriotic section of been entrustedto Herr Kranich,of Darmstadt,a pupilof the audience, have since been followed up, in a negative the late Herr Brandt,who so distinguishedhimself in the sense, at Bremen, , and Cassel by the French managementof the scenic and mechanicalcontrivances at artist being requested to cancel his engagements entered the " Festspiele" of I876. I'he following are the names nto with Concert entrepreneurs in those towns. At Prague of artistswho will fill the principalparts in boththe above- too, where M. Saint-Saens's Opera " Henry VIII." ha mentioned works during this year's " Festspiele"-viz. lbeen in full preparation at the Stadt-Theater, the perfor- MesdamesAmalia Materna, Therese Malten, Rosa Papier mance of that work has been abandoned at the last Rosa Sucher; Herren Betz, Anton Fuchs, H. Gudehus gnoment. That the wrath of German " patriots " is AlbertNiemann, F. Planck, Th. Reichmann,Emil Scaria directed solely against the injudicious public utterances of Gustav Siehr, EIeinrichVogl, H. Wiegand, and Her- the artist in question, and in no way against French art mann Winkelmann-a goodly array, truly, of first-rate as such, every impartial observer knows; but its manifes- artists, considering the verv limited number of " prin- tations, however ephemeral they may be, are, nevertheless, cipal" characters represented in " Tristan" and in regrettable and somewhat disappointing to the friends of " Parsifal." the fatherland of symphonic music. Respecting the In the January number of the BayrextherBlatter, a 4' " question in Paris, M. Ernest Reyer writes, in numberof letterswritten by RichardWagner are published the yournd l desDebats: " The scheme of a ' Lohengrin ' for the Ersttime, containinginteresting references as to the premiere at the Comique has tumbled into the water, but will historyof the foundationof the " Festspiele,"the erection be fished out again sooner or later. We regret this momen- of the BayreuthTheatre, and kindredsubjects, all of them tary solution of the Wagner question the less, since we should worthy the notice of the many admirersof the master. only have had a curtailed version of the work at the The presentyear, it will be remembered,is the tenth after Comique. After the lapse of some little time, Wagner's the first productionof the " Nibelungen" Tetralogy at Opera will be brought out in its entirety at one of our . theatres, where mistaken patriotism does not enter into The MonatsheftefiRr Musikgeschichte has unearthedthe calculations, and it will then be applauded as though it following critiqueon RichardWagner's first Symphony were a work by Mozart or Weber." There is some proba- (producedat the LeipzigGewandhaus on 3anuaryIO, I833) lbility of M. Reyer's prediction being soon realised. It is containedin the AllgemeineMusikalische Zeitxng of that stated in the Resue Wagnerie1sne,and other journals, that period, viz. :- " The new Symphony of the youthful the well-known impresario M. Schurmann will produce R. Wagner (he is barelytwenty) was, with the exception 4C Lohengrin" during the months of May and June next of its second movement,most favourablyreceived by a at the Eden Theatre of Paris, with a company of Austrian very numerousaudience, as indeedit deservedto be. We artists, and in the German language. Should the venture shouldscarcely be able to say whatmore could be expected be successful, other works of the poet-composer are to from a first essay in this exalted art-form,unless indeed' follow. It remains to be seen whether M. Schurmann has our demandsexceeded all reasonablebounds. The work not been too sanguine. Meanwhile, there was a per- may be consideredthe resultof muchapplication, while the formance on the I4th ult., at the Eden Theatre, of the imaginativepowers displayed in it are by no meanssmall- tnusic of the first act of " Die Walkure," as forming part of its peculiar constructionbetrays originality of thought one of M. Lamoureux's Subscription Concerts, which has and the entire work, in fact,-evidencesso muchgenuine created an immense enthusiasm, and thus the much vexed and earnestexertion in the rightdirection that we can only Wagner question would seem to be gradually solving itself regard this young man with hopeful anticipationfor his in the French capital, as it has done long since elsewhere. future. Although his manifest endeavoursto remaintrue The Archbishop of Lyons has addressed a letter to M. to himself as get cost hinl some considerableefforts, and Massenet, strongly condemning the performance in that althoughhis use of orchestraleSects lacks at presentthe town of that composer's Opera " Herodiade," which he necessaryexperience . . . these are shortcomingswhich characterises as a travests of the personality of St. John continuedapplication to his artwill soon obliterate. That the Baptist and a perversion of 13iblical history. which HerrWagner already possesses cannot be acquired " Herodiade," it will be remembered, was first brought at all, since it mui>tbe bornwithin the soul." out some years since at the De , of A " cyclus" of Wagner'sistage works, rangirlgfrom where it almost monopolised an entire season. " " to the " Ring des Nibelungen,"has just been A happy idea has occurred to Herr Munkacsy, the completedat the Stadt-Theater. eminent painter, residing in Paris. At the salon where A Symphonyin F, by Eugen d'Albert,has just been his new picture, representing the dying Mozart listening producedwith much success at one of the Philharmonic to the strains of his Requiem, is just now being exhibited Concertsof Berlin. the artist lately caused that immortal composition to be Mendelssohn'sfirst operaticwork, " Die Hochzeit des performed in the presence of a select audience, doubtless Camacho,"was producedon the gth ult. at aConcertof greatly enhancing thereby the intensity of the impressions the Berlin OpernVerein, under the direction of Georg to be derived from the contemplation of his picture. Bloch. The work was originallyperformed on April29,

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