Music: Dutchman and Debuts

Dutchman and Débuts

In Manhattan. A Dutchman struggling against storm and wind to round the Cape of Good Hope once swore that he would make it if he had to keep sailing until the Day of Judgment. The Devil overheard him, condemned him to just such a fate unless he could find a woman who would love him faithfully. There after every seventh year the Dutchman was permitted to go ashore to hunt a liberator. But the rest of the time he wearily sailed the seas until all the Norseland came to know of the white-faced wanderer and his phantom ship with the black masts, the blood-red sails.

Wagner used the legend of the Flying Dutchman for his fourth opera (Der Fliegende Holländer}, the first intimation of the power he was to set forth in Tristan and Die Götterddämmerung. Wagner had the Dutchman cast ashore with a Norwegian captain called Daland. Daland had a daughter, Senta, whose fancy had been taken by the queer stories about the Dutchman. She offered him the love which would save him but he doubted her and she threw herself into the sea. Whereupon the phantom ship went down and the Dutchman too found the death he had so long sought.

For 22 years Wagner’s Dutchman has been missing from the repertoire of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera Company, but last week it was revived with Baritone Friedrich Schorr as the Dutchman. A famed Norwegian basso, Ivar Andresen, made his debut as the Norwegian Daland, capably acted the jovial sailor but disappointed with singing which, according to persons who had heard him in Europe, was below his standard. Hans Clemens, newcomer from Berlin, sang the minor role of a steersman and disproved the theory that there are no good German tenors. Soprano Maria Jeritza apparently believed in the hallucinations of Senta, lifted high the ghoulish scene of her meeting with the Dutchman, her promise to redeem him.

In Chicago, event-of-the-week was the U. S. debut of Soprano Lotte Lehmann. Like Basso Andresen, Soprano Lehmann is famed throughout Europe for her singing of Wagner. Her Sieglinde last week (Die Walkure) lacked illusion because of her bulk. But the texture of her voice was marvelously rich.

Co-operative Orchestra

Indianapolis last week attempted to solve a problem existent in many an important U. S. city. Indianapolis has never had a flourishing symphony orchestra of its own, has subsisted on occasional visits from the Cleveland, Detroit and Cincinnati bands. Yet there are in Indianapolis many professional musicians out of work, a situation blamed chiefly on the invasion of “canned” theatre music.

Mulling over these two facts, Ferdinand Schaefer, a local violin teacher, conceived the notion of a co-operative orchestra, the musicians to play without pay until there were net receipts to divide. The musicians had nothing to lose, the union agreed.

Plans were made for four concerts, the division of proceeds to begin after the second. The auditorium in Shortridge High School was hired at low cost. Last week the first concert was given.

Wagner, Medelsshohn, Greig — these were the composers played creditably by the new 60-piece Indianapolis Orchestra. Teacher Schaefer proved an authoritative leader, but that surprised no one. Ferdinand Schaefer was weel trained in Germany before he came to the U.S. He was first violinist in the famed Gewandhaus orchestra in Leipzig, had conducting experience with several Leipzig and Berlin organizations. Almost every summer he goes back to Germany for a visit. He likes his beer and the music made by the small orchestras in every German city. U. S. cities should have just such orchestras, he says. But his hope for Indianapolis is higher than that. Said he last week: “The public need not expect a Philadelphia or a Philharmonic Orchestra at first. But give me ten years.” Grey-whiskered Conductor Schaefer is now 65.

November Records

Some phonograph records are musical events. Each month TIME notes the noteworthy*

Opera:

Tosca, by Italian artists and orchestra of La Scala, Milan (Victor, $21)—The Puccini-Sardou opus more vividly performed than in many a leading opera house. The recording would warrant a blindfold competition with a firsthand hearing.

Faust, the transformation scene by Tenor Fernand Ansseau, Basso Marcel Journet and orchestra under Conductor Piero Coppola (Victor, $2.50)—Two famed French-opera singers capably interpret the scene in which Mephistopheles restores Faust to youth.

Symphonic:

Spanish Album by the orchestra and chorus of the Brussels Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie under Conductor Maurice Bustin and the Madrid Symphony under Conductor Enrique Fernandez Arbos (Columbia, $10)—Representative music of the Spanish contemporaries de Falla, Breton, Albeniz, Turina. Because of de Falla’s impending visit to the U. S. and the exotic interpretations of La Argentina, widest interest will be aroused by the dances from La Vida Breve.

Mozart’s Symphony in G Minor, No. 40, by the Berlin Staatsoper Orchestra under Richard Strauss (Brunswick, $6)— One of the three great symphonies turned out by Mozart within a period of six weeks.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 by the Boston Symphony under Conductor Sergei Koussevitzky (Victor, $10)—A magnificent, high-powered reading of the Pathetique in which the Boston strings outdo themselves.

Strauss’ Salome’s Dance by the Berlin Staatsoper Orchestra under Richard Strauss (Brunswick, $1.50)—The great composer gives a glowing performance of his most popular work. The recording is uneven.

Ecclesiastic:

Gregorian Chants by the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes (Victor, $24)—Preferred ritual music of the Roman Catholic Church (its arrangement is attributed to Pope Gregory I), sung in the preferred way.

Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion by the Bruno Kittel Choir and the Berlin Philharmonic (Brunswick, 2 records, $1 each) —Excerpts from the devotional offering of a great Lutheran.

Songs & Ballads:

Body and Soul and Something to Remember You By (Brunswick}—Libby Holman sings sensuously her best songs from Three’s a Crowd. Two other un-requited-love experts have made records of Body and Soul this month: Helen Morgan for Victor, Ruth Etting for Columbia.

Wasn’t it Nice? and I’ll Be Blue Just Thinking of You (Victor)—Big Aileen Stanley sings her own obligate to the usual accordion accompaniment.

Dance Records:

Sing Something Simple and Lucky Seven (Brunswick)—Hits from The Second Little Show smartly played by Jacuqes Renard.

Fine and Dandy and Can This Be Love? (Victor)—The Ohman-Arden pianos do big things with tunes from Funnyman Joe Cook’s show.

Body and Soul and Something to Remember You By (Victor)—Leo Reisman does the best orchestral version of Libby Holman’s songs, Paul Whiteman next (Columbia).

Moonlight on the Colorado and Don’t Tell Her What’s Happened to Me (Victor)—The first is the current favorite waltz; the second, by the old masters De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, one of the season’s best.

*Prices listed are for entire albums which include several records. Where the price is not given, it is 75¢, standard price for popular 10-inch records.