Omaha Sunday
.Bee
PART TWO
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
PART TWO
SOCIETY
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
VOL. XLV NO. 6
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 18, 1915.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
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ROF, Theodor Rudolph Reese will conduct
the festival orchestra and the local
choruses.
In rlew of hla wide experience there was
no other choice to be considered for this
particular task. .
Prof. Reese la conductor of the great festival
orchestra and children's chorus of 2,000 Tolces of
the saengerfest to be held in Omaha next week.
He Is conductor of the local choruses. He has
I) en supreme conductor of the great mass male
chorus at several national saengerfests. He feels
It Is fitting a younger man should do that this
1 "Muslo's golden tongue" Prof. Reese speaks
faith the fluency acquired by many, many years of
musical activity.
He told the interviewer about It in short, sharp
Sentences after the Interviewer had succeeded in
I gaining the great musician's ear. It was at bis
'commodious home oa North Twenty-eighth ave
Ijnue. The Interviewer called. Mrs. Reese called the
(professor, who was In his studio, very busy. In
J fluent German the professor protested that he
i could not take time to talk, Mrs. Reese smilingly
explained to the Interviewer that Is, to the
would-be interviewer that the professor was al
ways vary, very busy and maybe she could tell
1 what was wanted. The Interviewer was adamant,
i No one but the prof eseor would do.
At this critical moment came a fair young dip
lomatist in the person of Mis Elsa Reese, one
of the professor's daughters.
Upstairs she ran and there was a little ex
change of German verbal artillery Then down
stairs she ran and after her came her father.
Prof. Reese not only looks the part ot a real
; conductor, but he acta the part. Ot heavy build,
he has the nervous movements of great artists, a
quick manner of speech. But this la tempered by
frequent smiles that are charming and reveal why
he is worshiped by every member of the great
choruses under his tuition. '
His hair Is white and stands up4n tb pompadour
etyle. A tiny grey moustache and flashing, rest
leas eyes help to make up a striking countenance.
Though he has been in this country for thlrty
0ve years, so immersed has he been in the realm
'of znuslo that he still lacks fluency In speaking
English. Often Mrs. Reese or Elsa would help
' hm out with a word. Bo the ground work of his
I Ufa was learned born in Magdeburg, Germany,
I father dldnt want him to bo a musician, ran away
and entered the great Berlin conservatory, where
'he studied under Prof. Stern, engaged In the Ger
man opera at Hamburg In 1881, came to New York
in German opera for two years, organized orches
tra of his own and toured this country, finally dls
bsnded at Davenport, la., and determined to settle
In Omaha, where he has been ever since.
As leader of the great mas chorus of the na
t'onal saengerfest, Prof. Reese has reached the
1 highest rung In conductor fame among the German
people of America. And his methods of drilling
great choruses of skilled singers, finished vocalists,
who both by bjrth and by environment have been
moulded spontaneously Into musicians, are worth
listening to.
There are many different kinds of conductors.
Gome rage like lions before their choruses and or
chestras; others dreamily weave lovely arabesques
in the air; some leap about In what seems to be
an exhibition of ground and lofty tumbling; others
merely motion with military stolidity; some use
batons a yard long; others use no batons at all. .
Prof. Reese is in none of these classes. He is
a class by himself.
His power lies rather in the affection which he
inspires, in the genuineness of his musical knowl
edge. In his earnestness and singleness of purpose
and In his unflagging seal and Indefatigable in
dustry. Of course, he dldnt say this himself. But one
of his chorus said it
"He Is pleasant to the men," said this singer.
"He doesn't get excited. He doesn't scold. Prof.
Reese is none of that. He is very modest, too,
although we know he would have good reason to
be very proud, He Is a very clever composer and
he knows music from A to 2. He is very much
liked by all the singers.'
"Whom do you consider the greatest com
poser?" the professor was asked.
"Beethoven, Wagner and Johannes Brahms 1
think the greatest composers," he said.
"Do you do much composing?"
The professor laughed and made a gesture that
indicated he did, indeed, do nfuch of that sort of
work, and his wife and daughter put his gesture
into words. He Is busy all the time. For the
saengerfest, of course, arranging the muale for all
the different Instruments and voices is a work at
Orcnesxra. anil Cliilidrens
Theodo)? Iaaolpn.
herculean magnitude,
ous other occasions,
Then he composes for vart
for people in neighboring
states, for Ak-Sar-Ben, ah, for so many things.
The professor stopped laughing and, counting
on his fingers, reeled oft the days of the week and
bis activities tor each day. And In between times
he composes.
"How do new melodies come to you?" asked
Friend Interviewer.
"Oh!" cried Else, "sometimes he wakes up in
the middle of the night and has to get right up
and write down something that has come into his
head, in his dreams, I guess."
And Mrs. Reese said that sometimes on the
street car or on the train these vagrant melodies
come wandering Into his mind from the world of
musio and he hastens to write them down.
This is the well-loved "Kapellmeister" ot
Omaha in this fifteenth year of the twentieth cen
tury. For the conductor of great saengerfest
chotuses and orchestras today Is the outgrowth ot
the "Chapelmaster" attached to the courts of
music-loving Germany back in the early eighteenth
century.
And how great has the modern conductor grown
compared to that humble servitor of little kingst
Thousands of batons have beaten since old Sebas
tian Bach used to plod along to the Thomas Schule
to try a new cantata that he bad written since
breakfast.' - :
In those days when ladles wore hoop skirts and
when coaches were bung on straps the kapellmeis
ter ot his serene highness, the grand duke of Pum
pernlckle (let us say), was organist in the court
chapel and wrote most ot the muslo he played;
he was choirmaster and composed most of the
cantatas, in asses and anthems; he was leader ot
his serene highness' orchestra and the symphonies,
overtures and suites heard at the evening concerts
of that music-loving court were mostly the off
spring ot his fertile brain.
Between times this busy but humble genius
taught the fiddle, clavier and harpsichord to the
children of his patron, and wrote musio tor special
festive oooaslons.
Behold a typical day of that prototype of the
great modern conductor of great choruses and or
chestras. He hops out from between his feather
beds in the dim light of dawn to set muslo to a
new ode written by the court poet upon the great
ness and glory of his serene highness; then calls
his musicians and singers together to rehearse it
for the evening concert. .
Evening arrives and the kapellmeister, sur
rounded by his musicians and singer, seats himself
at the harpsichord, waiting for the serene nod.
Then, beating time with his right hand and tilling
In the accompaniment with h's left on the In
strument, he reveals to the distinguished court
circle the wonders of his latest masterpiece.
It is such musical geniuses through many gen
erations whq have produced the great "kapellmeis
ter" of today.
Not an humble Individual Is the modern kapell
meister. The little court wUh Its dignity and con
descension has given place to a mighty auditorium,
filled with a multitude of well-dressed people.
Songs the Children Will Sing
Die Wacht am Rhein.
Es braust ein Rut wle DonnerhsH.
Wle Schwertgekllrr und Wogenprall,
Zum Rhein, sum Rhein, sum deutsohen Rhein,
Wer will des Stromes Hueter seln?
Lieb' Vaterland, magst ruhlg seln,
Lieb' Vaterland, magst ruhlg seln,
lest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am
Rhein.
Feet steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am
Rhein.
Herr Heinrich.
Herr Helnrlch sltzt am Togelherd gar froh und
wohlgemutt
Aus tausend Perlen bllts und bllnkt der Morgea-
sonne Glut
In Wels' und Feld, In Wald und An'
Horch, welch ela suesser SchalL
Der Lerche Sang, der Waehtel eohlag,
D'e suesse NachtlgalL
Der Staub wallt auf, der Hufschleg droehnt.
Bis naht der Waffen Klangt
"Dass Oottt Die Herr'n verderben ralr den gas
sen Vogelfang.
El nun. waa gilt's?"
Es haelt der Tross vor'm Herzog ploetzllch an.
Herr Helnrlch trltt hervor und spricht:
Wen sucht lhr Herr'a? sagt an."
W4 V L- .
A hush falls upon the great audience as the
conductor appears and then there are thunders
of applause as he takes his place. A bow and then
a quick rat-tat-tat with his baton on the muslo
stand and the great orchestra and the mighty
chorus burst Into song.
Tenor and alto, soprano and bass and the entire
army of virtuosi whloh will gather for the saenger
fest will bow before Prof. Reese as they have bowed
at the six saengerfests at which he has been su
preme leader of the mass male chorus.
Prof. Reeee Is known throughout German musi
cal circles in this country as a. musician , of pro
found learning and broad culture. He has a pre
disposition toward the austere rather than that
which Is merely gracious. He has little sympathy
with the brilliant but vacuous formalities of Saint
Saens or the equally vacuous sentimentalities of
Massenet.
"Beethoven opened the new era in music," he
said, "but not with him did the advancement stop.
Berllos, Liszt and Wagner added Instrumental
color.. Today, in our German saengerfest we reap
the benefit of all the great musicians of the past
and both In the orchestra and in the vocalization
we get melodies ot which our ancestors did not
dream. .
"In conducting the choruses Prof. Reese Is very
serious,' said one of the men singers, "but he is
not a man of quick temper. He is masterrui
rather than sensitive. He is reserved, but In
tensely dramatic His beat Is severe, precise, but
electrical. And his personality Is so pleasant that
ha gets the greatest oo-ope ration from all those In
the chorus."
As the interviewer rose to go his little dog "Tat
ters" gamboled playfully about Brandishing a
rolled up newspaper and with harsh German words
the professor stormed after him In most terrifying
manner. But "Tatters" merely ran up the stairs
two or three steps and sat down with a "smile" on
his face.
Even "Tatters" knows that his "bark" Is worse
than his "bite" and loves him, as do his ten chil
dren and the choruses which he leads.
"The old way we can get papa real mad," said
Elsa, "Is by playing the French national hymn on
the piano. Then he comes downstairs and threat
ens to do all kinds of things."
Eoeeleiu.
Sah' ein Knab' ein Roeslein steh'n,
Roesleln auf der Helden,
War so Jung und morgenschoen,
Lief er sehnell, es nah' su sehn,
fiah's znlt vlelen Freuden,
- Roeslein, Roesleln, Roesleln rot,
Roesleln auf der Held en.
Und der wllde Knabe brach's
Roesleln auf der Hetden;
Roeslein wehrte slch und stach.
Half Ihm doch kein Weh und Aoh,
Musst' es eben lelden.
Roesleln, Roesleln, Roeslein rot,
Roesleln auf der Helden;
AUa VoegeL
Alls Voegel slnd schon da, all Voegel alls,
Welch' ein 81ngen, Musislern,
Pfeifen, Zwltsohern, Tlrellern,
Pruehllng will nun elnmarschiern,
ICommt mit Sang nnd Schalle.
(Was ste nns verkuenden nun, nehmen wlr zu Herzen
Wir such wollen lustlg seln,
Lustlg wle die Voegeleln,
Hler und dort, feld-aus, feld-eln.
Elsgen, sprlngen, schema
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