HR HANS RICHTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7449, 25 May 1911, Page 9

HR HANS RICHTER

THE GRAND OLD MAN OF MUSIC. mow OTTB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, April 13. "When Dr Hans Richter laid down his baton at tho close of his farewell concert at Queen’s Hall this week, our greatest conductor brought to a close his active, career. He may yet anpear again at occasional benefit performances, but his working days are now at an end, and he retires to an honourable and well earned leisure. The loss to English music is a very 'great ono. Hans Richter is the grand old man of music. His combination ,of qualities have made him unique as a conductor, the greatest of those qualities • being perhaps his wonderful authority'. , No player in the orchestra dared to give less than his beat in obedience to the call of Richter’s baton. The old man has a practical familiarity with every instrument in the orchestra; he can play practically every instrument himself. Then ho has an amazing memory. He has often conducted whole concerts without a score. His knoweldge of musical "literature is encyclopaedic, and on* Wagnerian music he is the greatest living authority. In the rendering of th© work of Wagner, Beethoven and Brahms hg stands unrivalled, but his sympathies are by no moans confined to ■ these classics. His readings are famous for their directness, for Ids instructive sense of the right tempo, and for his unerring feeling te’ rhythm. There is no one who can ad---quately fill his shoes, now that he has stepped out of them. To all musicians ho was “the master.’’ Scenes of great enthusiasm marke- 3 the old ' man’s final appearance Queen's Hall. With his usual distasr. for ceremonies he vetoed the proposal to make him the recipient of a trablic presentation, but the London Symphony Orchestra were allowed to honour their venerable conductor privately. They presented him with an address and a silver loving cup at the rehearsal before tho farewell concert. Dr Richter’s reply woe characteristic in its directness and lack o; egotism. No com ductor fell from heaven, he said. If anyone said he was a conductor by bis own merits alone, he was a swindler! While teaching, he "had learnt. Thus disappears from the scene the venerable Master, tho foremost conductor of his time.