In your charming Grand, I have found the piano which has completely satisfied the demands I put to it in supporting my voice. Such symmetry of form, such adaptability to any space, with so great resources of tone combined with an action that responds to the gentlest touch, make the instrument both rare and inimitable. Sincerely yours, MARY GARDEN. CCHARVEY O 144 BOYLSTON 87 dante con moto, D major, 4-4. According to the composer there is the suggestion of a vessel that sails slowly over an unruffled sea. The stars begin to glitter, there is a cloudless sky, there is a mystic stillness. Over a rolling figuration is a melody first for horn, then oboe, the "Meditation" motive. This period is repeated a half-tone higher. The "Prayer" theme is sung by 'cello, then by first violin. There is illustration of Dante's tenth canto, and especially of the passage where the sinners call to remembrance the good that they did not accomplish. This remorseful and penitent looking-back and the hope in the future inspired Liszt, according to his commentator, Richard Pohl, to a fugue a most complicated theme. After this fugue the gentle "Prayer" and "Repentance" melodies are heard. Harp chords establish the rhythm of the Magnificat* (three flutes ascending in chords of E-flat). This motive goes through sundry modulations. And now an unseen chorus of women, accompanied by harmonium, sings, "Magnificat anima mea Dominum et exultavit spiritus meus, in Deo salutari meo" ("My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour"). A solo voice, that of the Mater gloriosa, repeats the song. A short choral passage leads to "Hosanna, Halleluja." The •The theme of the Magnificat is derived from the intonation of the Gregorian choral in the form of the second church tone, and was employed by Liszt in his "Hunnenschlacht," "Graner" Mass, "Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth." Solov-Hinds Company Opposite Arlington Street Church 352 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON Paris Models EVENING DRESSES and WRAPS VISITING COSTUMES WALKING SUITS final harmonies are supposed to illustrate the passage in the twentyfirst canto of the "Paradiso": I saw rear'd up, In color like to sun-illumined gold, A ladder, which my ken pursued in vain, I saw the splendors in such multitude Descending, every light in heaven, methought, H. F. Cary. The "Hosanna" is again heard, and the symphony ends in soft harmonies (B major) with the first Magnificat theme. * Liszt wrote to Wagner, June 2, 1855: "Then you are reading Dante? He is excellent company for you. I, on my part, shall furnish a kind of commentary to his work. For a long time I had in my head a Dante symphony, and in the course of this year it is to be finished. There are to be three movements, 'Hell,' 'Purgatory,' and 'Paradise,' the two first purely instrumental, the last with chorus.” Wagner wrote in reply a long letter from London: "That 'Hell' and 'Purgatory' will succeed I do not call into question for a moment, but as to 'Paradise' I have some doubts, which you confirm by saying that your plan includes choruses. In the Ninth Symphony the last choral movement is decidedly the weakest part, although it is historically important, because it discloses to us in a very naïve manner the difficulties of a real musician who does not know how (after hell and purgatory) he is to describe paradise. About this paradise, dearest Franz, there is in reality a considerable difficulty, and he who confirms this opinion is, curiously enough, Dante himself, the singer of Paradise, which in his 'Divine Comedy' also is decidedly the weakest part." And We send competent servants to all parts of New England when our patrons desire them for weddings, receptions, parties, and similar occasions. CATERING Call us on the phone or write SERVICE for terms, sample menus, price lists of ices, confections, pastries, etc. Visit our Restaurant, our Soda Fountain, and our Confectionery Counters at 156 Tremont Street. 156 TREMONT STREET MCDONALD-WEBER CO., BOSTON then Wagner wrote at length concerning Dante, Christianity, Buddhism, and other matters. "But, perhaps, you will succeed better, and as you are going to paint a tone picture, I might almost predict your success, for music is essentially the artistic, original image of the world. For the initiated no error is here possible. Only about the 'Paradise,' and especially about the choruses, I feel some friendly anxiety." Liszt wrote to "a Friend" ("Briefe an eine Freundin," Leipsic, 1894) from Dresden just before the first performance of the "Dante" Symphony: "The Bülows will come here for the concert of November 7, which now looks as though it would be successful, for the players are well disposed. It is also possible that criticism will be less hostile to me this time than it has been before. In any case I shall still go on my way, for all my reflections are made, and as I believe well made in regard to this. I'll speak to you about my 'Dante' when I shall have heard it. You know that I dedicate it to Wagner, and this shows you that I have not a bad opinion of the work." The symphony did not meet with success at this first performance. Hans von Bülow, eight years afterward, frankly spoke of "a fiasco which may be likened to that of 'Tannhäuser' in Paris." In a letter to Franz Brendel written from Rome in 1862, Liszt referred THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT GOUNOD'S "FAUST" that of Valentine's song in the second act-specially written There may be other choice books that would be of interest to LAURIAT COMPANY 385 WASHINGTON STREET Opp. Franklin Street to the first performance at Dresden: "In spite of the unsatisfactory performance of the Dante Symphony in Dresden (partly, moreover, the fault of the bad, incorrectly written orchestral parts, and my careless conducting), and without regard to the rapture of the spiritual substance (a matter which the general public tolerates only when demanded by the higher authority of tradition, and then immediately gapes at it upside down!) in spite, therefore, of this grievous Dresden performance, which brought me only the one satisfaction of directly setting to work at some not unessential improvements, simplifications, and eliminations in the score-that had taken hold of me during the rehearsals and the performance, and which I felt at once, without troubling myself about the audience present. . . . Now, what was I about to say, after all these parentheses and digressions? Yes, I remember now: the Dante Symphony is a work that does not need to be ashamed of its title, and what you tell me of the impression produced by the Bergsymphonie (in Sondershausen) strengthens me in my presumption." ** On July 6, 1861, Liszt wrote to the Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein that he had sent a copy of his "Dante" symphony to Rossini. "The copy which I ran over with him at Paris had been lent to me by ALL ARE MADE BY DENNISON, AND SOLD EVERYWHERE Dennison Manufacturing Ex THE TAG MAKERS BOSTON, 26 FRANKLIN STREET PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO ST. LOUIS NEW YORK |