MU SI C.
HANS RICHTER.
DR. RICHTER, it is true, has not bidden farewell to London,— indeed, it is stated that he will conduct two cycles of the Ring at Covent Garden next year; there is talk of the possibility of a fresh series of concerts under new management ; and it is definitely announced that he will bring his Manchester band to London next March. Nevertheless, the end of what was described as the " last series " of the Richter concerts marks the close of a chapter in the history of orchestral music in London, and may therefore be held to justify a few words of retrospect and appreciation.
Vizere fortes ante—Hans Richter : that none would admit more readily than himself. The debt that England owes in particular to Charles Halle and August Manns it would be unjust to overlook and almost impossible to overestimate. But Richter was, if not the very first, at least the most con- spicuous of the foreign invaders who in the last quarter of the nineteenth century revealed in their entirety to London audiences the illuminative resources of the modern orchestra as applied to the interpretation of the classical, romantic, neo- romantic, and transcendental schools alike. The Richter concerts date back to the year 1879; the vagaries of fashion in music are almost as marked as in dress, and the lustre of his achievements in the eyes of the rising generation of con- cert-goers may be slightly dimmed by the more aggressive, precious, athletic, or flamboyant methods of his younger rivals. The prima donna has long ceased to enjoy a monopoly of extravagant adulation. The cult of the conductor has attained dimensions which may best be exemplified by the following illuminating anecdote. A few years ago a then highly fashionable conductor found it necessary, owing to his prodigious exertions, to change his shirt in the interval between the two parts of the concert, and the son of the house where he was an honoured guest was immensely proud of the privilege of being allowed to carry to the concert hall the precious box in which the hero's change of linen was enshrined. Such precautions and privileges, it may safely be averred, were never taken or granted by Dr. Richter. He is one of the Olympians—like the late Madame Schumann and Dr. Joachim —he sees no virtue in unnecessary exertion, and has never con- founded conducting with calisthenics or serpentine dancing. This freedom from pose and platform mannerism, however, welcome and delightful as it is, must be reckoned as one of the least of Richter's great positive qualities as a conductor. Of these, one must begin with his prodigious memory—possibly excelled by that of the late Hans von Bnlow alone--which enables him not merely to conduct the great masterpieces of Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, and other composers by heart, but in some cases to dispense with a book even at rehearsal. Hans von Billow once wittily divided conductors into two classes,—thbse who kept their heads in the score, and those who kept the score in their heads. Richter is the greatest living representative of the second class. Memory, no doubt, in certain manifestations seems to be a mere freak, and may be unaccompanied by a high degree of intelligence in other respects, but it ran be safely stated that this particular sort of memory has never been found save in persons of very considerable mental powers. Richter's greatness as a conductor is based on a variety of attainments which none of his competitors unite in the same degree,—memory, practical knowledge of the technique and capacity of the instruments, and a broad-minded and sane conception of the intentions of the composer he is interpreting. He steers equally clear of commonplace or eccentricity. The emotion aroused, therefore, is the faithful index of this loyalty to the composer ; for if expressed in words it would probably be not " How wonderful or original Richter's reading is," but " How splendid the Beethoven, or Brahma, or Tschai- kowsky sounded." He has his limitations ; in orgiastic) or hysterical music he does not seem at his ease ; but then be is an Olympian, and we would not have him otherwise. Non omnia possumus omnes. It is said that Carmen under his Lorton loses its Mediterranean quality, which is a pity ; and that he is out of sympathy with certain modern composers who are masters of "psychology, trigonometry, chemistry," and have every gift but that of melody ; but here there are many who will gladly associate themselves in his heresy. His limitations, in fine, are those of a genial, dignified, well-balanced temperament, perhaps too serious to appreciate the lighter jucundities of his art or to squander his energies on feats of transcendental virtuosity, certainly too sane to be enamoured of bizarrerie trickery, or chaotic ex- travagance. His knowledge of the instruments is not intuitive like that of Berlioz—who only played the flute and guitar— but based on actual familiarity. He began life as a horn- player, and has a working knowledge of every instrument in the band. Hence if he wants a particular effect and the player declares he cannot produce it, Dr. Richter is always able to show him how it is to be done. No wonder then that he has his men in the hollow of his hand, for they know it is not the least use demurring to his demands. Again, it is pre- cisely because of his thorough knowledge of the technique of all instruments that Dr. Richter is able to recognise when an individual player has done a good piece of work, and, it may be added, there never was a conductor who was readier or more happy in his acknowledgment of merit in others. He is the soul of honesty and generosity. Who that was there will ever forget the episode in St. James's Hall a dozen years or more back, when there was a bad blunder in a performance of Brahms's " Tragic " overture, and when, after the end had been reached, Richter signed to the band to begin again at the beginning ? The overture went this time without a hitch, and at the close Richter turned to the audience, and said : " Ladies and gentlemen, the fault was mine,—not the orchestra's." This prompts one to observe that in one important respect Dr. Richter has for some time past laboured under a considerable disadvantage in comparison with other foreign conductors. They have either brought their bands over with them, or have had placed at their disposal the highly trained permanent band of the Queen's Hall. Dr. Richter's band, though it contains many fine instrumentalists, is in London a scratch band, organised for a limited number of concerts. To realise what he can " get out of " a band, one should attend a Birmingham Festival, where a first-rate and powerful picked orchestra has been playing together under him for a week on end before the regular performances begin ; or, better still, one should attend one of his Manchester concerts.
Mention has been made of Dr. Richter's liberal and broad- minded views on music. If his programmes of late years have suffered from the somewhat monotonous predominance given to certain familiar Wagnerian excerpts, it is an open secret that this does not reflect his own views as to the responsibilities of a conductor in the way of befriending all schools and encouraging young composers of all nationalities. British musicians — instrumentalists and composers alike — have always found Dr. Richter a firm friend and a most generously appreciative patron. It is enough to recall his invitation of English players to take part in the orchestra at Bayreuth, his introduction of compositions by British writers into his Viennese programmes, and his efforts to secure a hearing for them when possible at his own concerts. Nor need one refrain
,from mentioning that he has always been on terms of the most cordial good-fellowship with the leaders of the musical profession in England, or that his genial, unaffected bearing on the platform is a true index of the honesty, robust common- sense, and kindliness which have endeared him to all who have had the privilege of encountering him in private life.
C. L. G.
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