IN the WORLD of MUSIC and ART Oscar Hammerstein Dirk Fock, Hollander I..- by H4 E
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IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC AND ART Oscar Hammerstein Dirk Fock, Hollander I..- By H4 E. Krehbiel and his French campaign. I cannot Hammerstein began life toll, because ( do not know what was By Katharine Wright father and :-. f .- - aain, *'ñ Oscar in the minds of Mr. Kahn and back of h!m s .«" Whether < Mr. When wo set out to interview Dirk «'.urdv, a« ¦ cigarmaker. Catti in the America Bummer of 1908; but two Fock, the young Dutch conductor who conservative burg< he live«! a few years longe not, had things are obvious now.the inclusion will make his second appearai.cc at rere written his name of in the a musical caí h» wou! have hig English opera Metropolitan's the Stadium to-morrow evening, the wh was essential to the fi be less , v >cs- the Hst of operatic managers policy interna¬ undertaking threatened to be as diffi¬ vulgsi rig jn tional ideal which had been tion and told 1 ttl« pj<.*n made phenomenal shipwreel proclaimed cult as catching the proverbial bird isre by the establi: hment years before, and with the salt. m H. liai .-p> < ra- I»-«« Ebers, Delafiold, Taylc its proverbial H»ncially. presence there now is a direct At Mr. Fock's hotel we learned in r" ,,n l-ondcn, and his earl fruit of the war. the H« st n ¿ Mar <.* With sound of turn that the young man was not York, as we the German become hateful ut n New language stopping there and that his room tele¬ predecessors in American ears, a substitute had to H Hcnr;. E Abbey, who lived to se phone did not answer. TViis magnifi¬ be found, either in French or becom of his mnnagcrie English. cent display of accuracy on the pi rt ^e leginnings Common sense, tact, he was successful A »»« practicability and of the left us a telephone operator . forever remain p. matte ¦x h O r i wrcfr. must patriotism combined to suggest the choice. As the last verdict seemed the Göteborg cl He made in adoption of the latter. Hence we shall in Sweden ¦¦ rchaa- 0; mere conjecture. the more hopeful we decided to abide now have Italian and French tra. al The Hague, and w.m other dia- fortunes in the course o operas by this. We left a note and were loit MTcra in their origi.ta! tongues and German with the theatre and h; rewarded with an appointment. fc:s dalliance In the vernacular-.let us hope, also, When we arrived at the same hotel, venture was utterly disastrous the additions which bo made to final may with the un¬ Dirk Fock never been convinced tha the Russian list. scrupulous punctuality bat 1 have seldom our with th fortunately appreciated by h« was ru n rivalry Was Mr. Hammerstein musical? I friends, the clerk pointed a fat firmer In tha do not know. that he ever ye;. ra C mpany. Nothing said at a man seated in the lobby, entirely tc me in the -:'¦'« him victor. Wha many years of our ac¬ concealed by a morning paper. idver.:..- quaintance indicated that ho had "That is Mr. he said. «»s : carried off th« Fock," there knowledge of music or f< ndness for it The gentleman rose to greet us and no! only in money bu field of combat, in any form except the operatic. Whtn bowed with a puzzled look on his in presume. He never said so to mo o In talked to mo about opera it was face. sional talk. His ob- in my presence; the conclusion is o profe ¡showman's "Aren't you Mr. Fock?" we de session to produce opera.an obsession "and name own mal ng ai I s« ems to me i manded, if that is your my which he was fond of proclaiming, are you the one?" " fact tha right logier«: perhaps because it was good adver¬ The young man shook his head and «f ruin he sold hii when on th« tising stuff, and the odor of printer's looked more and more puzzled. We propert.es n id» phia and re¬ ink was as incense to his nostrils.¦ explained the circumstances and cursed nounced his ] ges in New Vori ciime upon him as it has come upon a the hotel clerk. The real Mr. Fock, multitude of men of all classes of who was other cai country foi however, hovering expectant¬ ixii society since opera >an aristocratic in the overheard rtake hid mac ly neighborhood, part enough mone; from its birth) has had a of our Ion. plaything recriminations and dashed up enter;.- upon th<:- Noble- to save the situation. Yet almost im¬ .¦.. place public stage. M brou him His nu-n have yielded to it and so have mediately he increased our confusion. a largi ai p. indeed, thai valets, waiters and cooks. The p*yt "You know John Powell, don't you?" _so ar¡ chology involved is comprehended he asked, and the first young man I do not fonder that a few the of ath, and largely by psychology specula¬ bowed again. nior.t' perhaps tion and gambling. The instances in Now for an American not to recog¬ to his is breath, he up which men have been led into the nize one of this country's most dis¬ the v. the belief, cherished career by solely artistic paths are few tinguished musicians must indeed have in year h« would again that and are more often found in com¬ seemed astonishing to a for¬ batí Metropolitan forre?. visiting »¡ve binations of men inspired by sú».ial eigner. However, we have an excel¬ do not that he would ¡ aims or public spirit (like the Metro¬ lent alibi. We are outrageously near¬ been ab e to d~i it, becaufs have politan Opera Company' than in in¬ sighted, and an emotional friend, who th.!-.: it the end ef his dividual entrepreneurs. Of the impre¬ insisted upon embracing us entries.- res« d the ability to Giovanni Zenatello financial sarios whom I have know",, astically in the had jf-nt thos had eparted only subway, just enlist Maurice Strakosch and our of to a hin : in the Maretzek, Maple- only pair glasses ghastly from apital si n were r« Y.-ional musicians. '1 overture, "Cavalleria Rusticana" fan- doom. We have listened to Mr. Powell will oí NTew York that good public do not count Dr. be¬ ?asy, Delibes's "Sylvia" ballet ¡--irte, a hundred but we doubt if we not the meritorious Leopold Damrosch, times, remembered cause he was the administrative Beethoven's ''Leonore'' overture, Liszt s could a member of our ii I asons of French only recognize things a : the owners Rhapsodie No. G, and Lacorne's "March in similar circumstances. sea¬ of of the opera house, family cpera. but of those . or Walter Damrosch. because his wis¬ Tzigane." When everything was finally straight¬ tingnished fore His sons U] i company's On ability as a -. ther The achieve¬ dom saved him from being long en- Monday, "symphony night," Dirk ened out and Mr. Powell felt reas- perforrr.ar'" in managerial snares.! Ma¬ Fock, the young Dutch conductor, will sured that no gushing adm-.rer had perien« nceri halla ments of tl re his chief and 'i- retzek became a composer and con¬ make his second appearance. He will attempted to pick him np, Mr. Fock o] malry claim iry. Mr. F ¦.-. deter ductor in his native Austria because conduct Beethoven's "Leonore" overture settled down to tell U3 all about hirn- actor, 1 ha-. I that the en- und to he could not endure the horrors of the No. 3. Brahms's Symphony No. 4, De¬ self. Unfortunately we were on our gral uud.ed Metropolitan wii S'il room when the bussy's "L'Apres-midi d'un Faune" and vacation and mi.ssed his first appear¬ only tompany has ded to American dissecting he began Cïeofonîc Campauini the "Tannhäuser" overture. Vera Bar- ance in America at the Stadium sev¬ The ra in th« vernacular study of medicine, which he had orig¬ compo- - his stow, violinist, and Frederick Gunster, eral weeks ago. Not even a genius self: Cor luct must i- Vlr. Hammerstein, inally chosen to be vocation, tfcra- story whose wife said he never bought tenor, will be the soloists. from Holland could have u« Festival but 1 can in the facts of kopch wr.s a pianist who had studied dragged hing books, only made them, Mr. Grau never will the restful first c an as. ai the Vienna Conservatory; hs v/a:' a Tuesday's "opera night" feature away from contemplating made music, only bought and fold as soloists Olive Nevin, soprano; of a cow mourning for her phony Orel île gave if rformances teacher in Xew York until he went to picture those who made it. As a small George Reimherr, and the a resentful and «Choral tor of need that he had Europe :'.-; agent for his slster-ig-law, bey tenor, Sta¬ calf and chewing cud, he sold librettos at i the performances dium Ide'.Ie Pat¬ other rural entertainments. But if to write an » Patti. As an operatic manager. Quartet, including his Mariette Mazarin as Elektra r of the S to« i Mr. 1 believe, he began when, with his managed by uncle, Jacob Ginu, but terson, Lillian Eubank. Ernest Davis it is not yet possible for us to echo :- Amen :an Dippel after from the Col¬ and Earle Tuckerman. from who bi forward with brother, Max, he took charge of the being graduated Selections from the pa;ans of praise foreign lege of the City of New York and be¬ the operas of Weber, Verdi Mozart a"d critics and musicians, a th-- Koi Phi im y.not Apo.io Theatre in Rome.