The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 9, 1904, Page 19

t Josef Hof- lowered urved mouth hum Puck-1 to these. them hand you get that govern: orm face, the gen- ce of the head. Sit- h the mischievous eparkie brown eyes to further the fanc Hofmann seems sometimes & very te. He does the elfish thing, too, as I have portended. Asked to pose at the plano the other day when I went to chat he sat down at the great soberly enough. Then he wonderful little hands, with the cushioned fingers, to the key- board g 1t delicate A bit of the “Waldstein,” I promised myeelf. He was to play it that night. Master Hofmann, turning a ical eye over his shoulder at me, to play—la la—la, la—what was & cheap, swaying, three-four “I heard 1t at Fischer’s the other night what is her la, la— Mr. Hofmann by “Miss Mazu- “Down the also nearer after asked the - 1, playing which is b s ay plano,” he laughe a into a big chair, with s ¢t Bugene c fr g n the second act of et e had invented affair t car. A man b putting B v T r s t At 2 s pencil to r s v rther infant e g L nn-—anjy ng than “Mis- rrigible young- THE SAN FRANCISCO CALI ~> ster by the way—gravely subjoined the following: “My first appreciation of music—and I recollect it distinctly— was of a hand organ. It was below the window in the street and 1 ran to listen to it. At the same time I discovered that I could hear it better if I put my ear against the glass. And I was just three years old.” That was In Cracow, where the pian- ist was born. Later Hofmann went to Warsaw, capital of the still unhappy Poland. It was at three and a half that “little Hofmann's" fate was de- cided. He decided it thus remarkably himself. His father went to Warsaw to become a professor in the Warsaw Conservatory and sold his piano before going. Not being sure of staying very long in Warsaw he thought that he would not buy another instrument. Master Josef decided otherwise. “I sald to my father—he has told me of it since quite frequently,” related the son—"that ‘you would better buy a no or you will regret it once!' and it so struck him that he bought one,” Hofmann laughed. And that, with mother teaching to begin with, then some years with his artist-father, put Josef Hofmann upon the concert stage at nine years old, al- ready a remarkable little virtuoso. One he has, “who used to play well,” b married now, “prefers the music of her children.” Somehow we fell then upon the mod- ern composers, inevitably upon the Russian school. Little for piano liter- ature, Josef Hofmann considers, is osing anywhere outside of Rus- sia. Medtner, Liadow, Scriabine, par- 1 Sternberg and Rachmanin- ced as the greater men of 1 remarked upon the coin- literary efflorescence, also the lopment, with the internal po- and social strife of the em- dev is the child of struggle,” Hof- remarked, ‘‘no strife, no art. must be compensations.” His sketch of the Russo-Japanese lict belongs rather to the editorial here. It came with delight- from the boyish lips—a acute picture of conditions—Ger- await to see which side wins treaty-bound to Russia, France watching ‘“‘our dear the possibility of a alliance, and so on. k to Italy after that s instance of the few for the piano furt n the no-Jag nese ba with Sgambati »dern cor of Russia f the little posers Strauss?” I asked; canvas—orchestral, not e,” Hofmann catalogued color than form—decorative Strauss to programme music 3 I advanced that some music was much worth st te musie. One ob. 1 over one’s music. is that. Too much— n! This you shall , that ruch feel, and this you shall not feel. Bah! It is like being in a picture gallery where a man at your elbow tells you ail the what to think. I like to think to think when I see pictures or hear music. Imagine to be told what te 1! He went on: “In real music it is left open to one what to feel. And to each, acc 1g to his temperament, it ap- peals differently. One makes one’s own pi es. It is a free art. Again. Take away the programme of your pro- gramme music and it ceases to inter- est It is no longer beautiful. You 13 en making the beauty yourself. You need the advertisement with it. And the actual thing can never be ex- d in music,” he added. ‘Almost,” I ventured, thinking of the orchestral water that laps over the audience with the first measures of the “Rheingold.” ay,” and looked the philosopher AR = | B BLANC’.HE PARTINGTON ~ VV — [ CLEVER YOUNG PIANIST, WHO SPENDS LEISURE HIS MUSIC LEAVES HIM INVENTING AUTO MACHINERY.—L [= = out through the jesting eyes, “you can express the sensation that is produced upon you by the hearing of water, never the actual sound of water.” “Not by a sort of musical onomato- poela?” Began then a discussion of the rela- tive and matter in the form values of form The thought before the pianist believes. “This I mean,” he afterward reverted —*“that you cannot in music paint the definite thing. Say you wish to picture a grotesquely clothed figure dancing into a rocm. You cannot. But you can, in musical language, express the sen tions that such a figure induces in you. To try to do more is to misunderstand the functions of music. It is like some musicians who shake long hair over an ynata—'this is tragic,” drips over r brows. But this is acting. He is an actor. The musician is born to speak through his finger Ilaughed to remember the Chopinzee, as Huneker has dubbed De Pachmann, nodding and winking and elbowing his delight over rare phrases to his audi- ence. 1 said »me people call that kind of thing temperament.” “And some,” said Mr. Hofmann, knocking off a long ash end from his cigarette, “call it a fake.” I remembered only as I left, 8o com- pletely unassuming, so rarely modest, so simply friendly, boyish and unaffect- ed is Josef Hofmann, that I had been talking with one of the world artists. — s SOME SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDIES ARE TO BE INTED THIS WEEK Even the Ben Greet players are join- ing in the laugh that is going up from the theaters this week. They are to give the Shakespearean comedies, *“Much Ado About Nothing” “Twelfth Night.” No Shakespeare lover ,could afford to miss the latter, with only Con- stance Crawley Viola. But and charming a. Mr. Greet's most admirable Malvolio, and with Thursday, Friday and Saturday even and a Friday matinee to see it. “Much Ado About Nothing” in the Greet edition is new here. Mr. Greet cssays Benedick and Miss Crawley Beatrice. The comedy will be played on Monday, Tuesday and Wedne evenings and at the Wed- nesday and Raturday matinees. it g To-morrow evening the new Alcazar stock company will make its first bow, always an event of strong interest in local dramatic circles, Extraordinary effort has been made by the manage- ment to secure the right new people, and the old favorites are almost all retained. The first piece is “Lord and Lady Algy.” & 4 This afternoon the Grand Opera- house joins the merry round of musical comedy with “The Burgomaster,” one of the Pixley and Luder efforts. Oscar L. Figman, brother of Max Figman, so well known through his association with Mrs. Fiske, leads the company. As the next best thing to musical comedy the Majestic will to-night present “The Japanese Nightingale,” a play by the well-known Japanese au- thoress, Onoto Watanna. “The Ofiice Boy.” with Daniels the inimitable, is crowding the Columbia this week. There is every reason why it should. said of “The Ten- derfoot At ifornia, with Phil H. Ryley and company. The theater is holding all it can. v be Pt The same Down the Line” is doing well at ischer’s. e e “She,” from the weird Rider Hag- gard story, will furnish mystery and adventure at the Central this week. e Orpheum patrons will be glad to see Hickey & Nelson, who caught the town two years ago, and who headline this week’s bill with a sketch called “Twist- ed and Tangled.” &3 Wi e Ted E. Box takes his whistling up to the Chutes this week from the Or- pheum. It is really funny. SOR A There is a small girl for whom her friends claim an extraordinary voice and exceptional pianistic faculty going to make her appearance at Steinway Hall next week in both capacities. Her name is Gertrude Fleming, and she has just reached the mature age of 11 years rude’s concert is set for the 15th, SP AR Charles Richman has been engaged by . Shubert to play leading roles Ada Rehan in her tour. Herbert Kelcey and Effie won a distinctive succe production of “Tap: Theater, New York, la Arrangements have just been com- pleted in New York City by which “The Runaways,” a musical extrava- ganza which ran for seven months at the famous Casino Theater. will make a tour of the Pacific Coast the coming season. Shannon with their the Lyric t week. To-morrow evening the Tivoll produce for the first tIme in Ame “Der Rastelbinder,” (the peddler), a comic opera by har that has achleved notable s in Vienna and in several German cities. A hasty glance over tis plano shows the opera delightfully pro: on its musical side. Whether Lehar is German or Austrian I do not know Distinctly Hungarian is the music in part, and again it contains landler- movements, the fellows to which German street will give you. m any The com- poser is particularly happy In one or two waltz songs, and there is a duet in mazurka time for tenor and barytone that will slide into the local whistle like macaroni into the devout Italian’s. And it is going to take sing- ing. One half of it ¥ &now will be sung. Kate Condon will sing it. Miss Condon will take the part of Milosch (the barytone), a casting that has not before been attempted. By the way— but I hate to tell. Still, 'twere best. This will be Miss Condon’s last appear- ance before leaving for the East. whera she is under contract te star. Though one would by no means wish to stand in the singer’s way, one regrets d the necessity for her departure. She will be more missed than any contralto the Tivoli has had for many years, her beauty being by no means the least of her charm. I think, however, that Miss Condon would be the first to subscribe to the fact that her Tivoll days have done much for her- She has gained notably in humor and sprightliness. It will be well for her to forget, however, the little habit of forcing her lower notes, in which—possibly for the humor of the part—she has indulged herself in “The Serenade.” But Miss Condon will be certain of the warmest of welcomes on her return, in starry or any other capacity. Wh reminds that it is to be hoped the E will not be stealing the little Fritzi Scheft of the Tivoli, Dora de Fillippe. The other half of the long-ago-men- tioned duet will be done by Thomas H. Persse, here before with the Southwe! Opera. Company. Why not Andrew B gart? Because Mr. Bogart has run away. Success notwithstanding, the tenor-barytone has decided that comic opera is too, too much. Mr. Persse is very favorably remembered. He plays Yanku. As to the rest of the music, it bright throughout, tun , unprete: tious and original. Some choruses for children are a feature. At the Saturday Morning Club in Sacramento, where they do many fine things unsuspected by their metropoli- tan neighbor, a recital that promised to be noteworthy was yesterday given by a Boston tenor, W Heinrich. How the recital went I have not yet heard Mr. H. Bretherick, organist of the First Unitarian Church, sends the following interesting facts cerning the singer, who may spend some little time in our mids Mr. Friedrich is the tenor in D Everett Hale’s church in Boston, and was for ten years with Phillips 3rooks in like capacity. He has sung with the famous Boston Symphony ciety, with the Cecelia Society, at New Bedford and Worcester fi for where our dear Schumann-Heink left us to sing—besides in concert Maine to Florida.” Mr. Heinrich is al a good ptanist and accompanies h self. Last, sad fact, the singer is blind. The enterprising little Saturday Morr ing Club up there in Sacramento giv Mr. Heinrich $100 for his se haps our Twentieth Centu give us an opportunity to hear him. Wooded Areas of Europe. The percentage he wooded areas of European eountries, as compared with their total areas, is as follows Finland, 51.2; S n, 49.3. Russia, 40.4; Austria Luxemburg, 29.1; Hungary, Serv Rouma- Bulga- ountries nd. 24.9; Turkey, nia and Switzerland, ria, 2 1.4 .8. The other European have less than 20 per cent of wooc England has the smallest wooded a 3.6 per cent each; GALIFORNIA STANDS UNAGRUSED OF PATRONIZING < %‘; 4 Y 7 7 ) 4 | | SN ———- e eme— - ___5 i BORELLI PICTURE, ABOUT WHICH ARTISTS DIFFER. I HOUGH with something of a rep- utation as a sinner, San Fran- cisco can face the world as innocent of the charge of provincialism—that {s, in its relation to local art and its artist-folk. Laurels there are in plenty—and from our own front gardens—for Cali- fornia halfbacks, pugilists and pitch- ers, but for California artists—bah! Where are they? Who are they? Ah! There is the thing. Who are they? Well, it's taking the East and the Old World countries to tell us, while we're doing the Josh Whitcomb trick “of yest a-keepin' still, so's not ter show our ign'rance.” And thus are we withholding from our own people—the poets who tell the world with their brushes of our hills, our flowers and our sunsets—the sweet stimulus of kindly recognition. Yes, and more—the eloquent praise of pur- chase, which is, in truth, the basis of exaltation in art, for how can an artist-chap be glad when his creditors are mad? That's the part the world can do for art—buy it. And that’s the part that Westerners can do for the vigor of Western art—buy it. But if you can’t, then “boost” it. POt honestly Very soon, one of the most exquisite canvases ever done by Thaddeus ‘Welch, “Early Morning in Marin,” will leave California for the East, a so- journing Gothamite the purchaser. His amazement, by the way, was large at the thought of its being permitted to stray from home. May such visitors who really appreciate—and buy—come often and stay long. As it is by the wind that the seeds of blossoms are dropped in barren places, so it is with every wanderer who carries away a worthy California picture; it sows a sced of reverence for the art that Cali- fernia knows. $ e Herewith is a bit of gossip: A local art dealer, and one standing well up in the commercial phase of art, confessed frankly to me yesterday that he could not carry much of local art—just a few acknowledged men and women enjoyihg his favor now and then. “But,” said he, “this condition is not of my making. The demand of our patrons is for work from abroad. If local work—that of it which is good—could be popularized locally, then it would give me great pleasure to exploit it. But business precedeth sentiment, madam,” said he senten- tiously, which speech revealed the whole tale of art—woe in the West— lack of demand. . e e That famous Borelll picture, “The Widow,” whose star of destiny didn't lead it into the Park Museum—and more's the pity—is on exhibition in Schussler’'s. Go to see 1t, if you can feel the woe that swamps a creature of poverty, bereft of friend and hus- band, and even tears. . Silently meditating on a settle in her gray stone hut “The Widow" sits beside a puny fire. a herring in the ashes, forgotten in the dumb ache of her woes. That face standing out against the gray stone wall bears in every line the story Borelli would tell. And the hands do the rest—those gnarled and sinewy hands are clasped in repres- sion, whose fingers until now knew no idleness. The dignity of sorrow here expressed, the tearless anguish of irreparable grief, bespeak the picture to be a chap- ter oft repeated in the simple annals of the poor. But see the picture! “The Widow,” about which local ar- tists have disagreed as to its tech- nique, belongs to George Kahn, who picked it up in an art exhibit in Italy —in Naples, I believe, the home city ‘of the poet-painter. P A great spurt is on now among the art-folk in pursuance of a notice sent through the mails announcing that the Annual Fall Exhibition at Mark Hop- kins Institute of Art would open No- vember 17 and continue until December 8. But that wasn't the worst it said— it decreed that every bit of canvas or of bristol board should be in the di- rectors’ hands not later than November 5. Oh, and then the heart aches! But artists must work and artists must weep. R e 'Tis said that handsome Charles Dickman is about to desert Monterey— where during the summer he has been a picturesque figure in his English tweeds and tan top boots—and has se- cured a studio in town, not many miles from the Bohemian Club, whence much inspiration springeth. But what's Monterey without Dickman? @ e ‘Water colorists, next week will bring a collection of R. B. Nesbet's famous pictures—all of the great Scot's natlve heath. ’'Tis said that the breath of the heather hovers about them, and the soft blue air of the Highlands. Vickery's will show them. . e e At the same gallery Helen Hyde will show her latest work in Japan, begin- ning October 20. Miss Hyde is now in Tokio, where she is taking a breath after a long busy spell. P e Behold, another American recogni- tion beyond our doors of two Califor- nia men—Charles Rollo Peters and Frank McComas; for be it known that they were two of the four artists in the United States invited to compete for a prize picture by the Carnegie gallery of Pittsburg. LI AR Arthur Matthews is intently pre- paring the way for an exhibit to be held some time around Christmastide. o e The Newspaper Artists' League is about to show what clever things busy chaps can do, their exhibit opening on tha 11th in the maple room of the Palace. Last year the exhibit was a famous success. Double the success is ex- pected this year. as the exhibit will be larger and more painstaking. Suc- cess to the driven pen! e e Ada Romer Shawhan from her roof garden studio is doing some dainty little bits, four of her pictures now being shown in Kennedy's. & e e The Saturday afternoons at home of many of the artists are coming to be delightful features of San Francisco social life. And more of it would bring artist and art lover together on a more understandable plan, and the thing is possible—and even probable. ———— SOME OF THE PIECES NOW BEING TRIED ON EASTERN AUDIENCES The Savage Grand Opera Company, which was founded in Boston nine years ago and will be heard in San Francisco for the first time next Feb- ruary, has given more than four thou- sand performances. e . Sousa and Harry B. Smith are to col- laborate upon a new light opera for production next season. Sousa's last operatic work was ““Chris and the Won- derful Lamp."” C iy ol A feature of the musical season will be the return to this country of Georg Henschel, who will lecture on “Per- sonal Recollections” of Johannes Brahms. Mr. Henschel will also be connected with the New York College of Music during his stay in America. ARy i Anton Hekking, the Dutch ‘cellist, who is to make his debut in New York December 2 with the Philharmonic So- ciety, is being prodigally advertised. A European authority recently said of . = HER ART.—2By Laura Bride FPowers him: “His American tour will be an event in the annals of ‘cello playing in America. It will be playing the like of which the country has never heard.” Maybe, but we liked Pablo Casal's like pretty well when he was here. How- ever, bring on your Hekking, Mr. Wolfsohn. aeoe g Wagenhals and Kemper's spectacular production of Flaubert's “Salammbo,” in which Frederic Warde and Kathryn Kidder are now appearing in the Northwest, is one of the dramatic at- tractions to which our theatergoers may look forward in the near future. » =g T Edwin Emery, long a light Central and the Alcazar theate has turned playwright. His play, ° Prince Imperial,” is said to have be successfully presented at the Savoy Theater, Atlantic City, a week or so ago. of [ o David Warfleld's new play, “The Music Master,” by Mr. Klein, has just been successfully produced at the Be- lasco Theater, New York. The leading character is a radical departure from Warfleld's previous adventures and his personal triumph therein has eclipsed all former ones. ¢ iei e W. H. Crane last week produced im New York “Business Is Business,” the Octave Mirbeau play that Henry Mil- ler designed to give us here this season, with a succes d’estime. Its compulsion to think is alleged as a reason for its further problematic success on the American stage. Mr. Crane's assump- tion of the part of the money-mad Lechat has aroused genuine respect, though not a wholesome admiration. Q2 Maxine Elliott is preparing for hel Pacific Coast tour in “Her Own Way." The star has achieved a wonderful suc- cess in this piece and will bring it herc before many weeks will have passed.