Alfred Hiles Bergen and the Leon Marx Trio

              Figure

ALFRED HILES BERGEN
and
The LEON MARX TRIO
Redpath




ALFRED HILES BERGEN




LEON MARX




HANS DRESSEL




CARL MACHLIN





The Bergen-Marx Company

Alfred Hiles Bergen and the Leon Marx Trio
That the Redpath Bureau is able to present the coming season companies of such high standard as the Ben Greet Players and The Bergen-Marx Company, is due in no small measure to the fact that it operates from New York to San Francisco and is able to book trans-continental tours.



First Three Year Contract With A Singer
The contract just closed with Alfred Hiles Bergen, the soloist with this company, is for three years and is the first instance in which the Redpath Bureau has closed a three year contract with a singer.  Mr. Bergen has already made one trip to the Pacific Coast under Redpath management and was such a success that there was instant demand for return dates.  The coming tour of the Bergen - Marx Co., will include much of the same route over which Mr. Bergen went before.



Redpath Bureau Insuring A Singer's Voice
For the first time in the history of the lyceum world, the voice of a lyceum artist is to be insured by a bureau.  The Redpath Lyceum Bureau is taking out a policy for $120,000 on the voice of Alfred Hiles Bergen—whowill make a trans-continental tour under Redpath management.

The insuring the hands of a violinist is not an unheard of thing, but the insuring of a voice is much more of an innovation.

Mr. Bergen is to be the soloist this season with an instrumental trio.  The members of the trio will also be widely known musicians.  Announcement of their personnel will be made soon.  The company as a whole will be one of the biggest lyceum attractions of the seasons of 1912–13.



Mr. Bergen's Meteoric Career
Alfred Hiles Bergen, baritone, is a native born American who has had a decidedly moteoric career.  He has studied with some of the greatest American vocal teachers and has also done special work in German lieder with George Henschel of London.  His repertoire comprises some nine hundred songs and several oratorios.

If we are to judge by the comparisons made by the critics of the press, Mr. Bergen's style and interpretive ability form a composite of such great artists as Dr. Ludwick Wullner, David Bispham and Emilio de Gogorza.  His voice is a high baritone with a range of nearly three octaves, and his dramatic instinct is wonderful as is evinced by his singing of Loewe's most dramatic ballad Edward; then in the lighter vein Annie Laurie, with a wealth of tonal beauty and atistic style that is inimitable.

At times he surprises his hearers by the daring and original way in which he casts aside traditional readings and gives a thoroughly artistic, yet totally different reading than has been heard before.  In his originality lies his greatness.




A Successful Song Writer
Mr. Bergen has achieved conspicuous success as a song writer and his Song of the Birch, an Indian Cycle (which he has sung by request in many instances) has been acknowledged a classic by many critics.  This cycle has been said to portray the American Indian melodies more truly than any other work along similar lines.

At one of Mr. Bergen's early appearances in Chicago, Mr. Glenn Dillard Gunn (then the critic of the Chicago Inter-Ocean) prophesied that this young artist would be an honor to American musicianship.  We believe that this prophecy has come true, and we are convinced that W. L. Hubbard (formerly critic of the Chicago Tribune) was right when he said publicly: I consider Alfred Hiles Bergen, one of the finest artists that America has yet produced.



The Leon-Marx Trio—Distinguished Artists
The Leon-Marx Trio is composed of Leon Marx, violinist, Mr. Hans Dressel, violoncellist and Mr. Carl Machlin, pianist, under the direction of Mr. Marx. Their work, both as a trio and as soloists, will be an important part of the evening's program.  Mr. Marx is one of the most distinguished violinists in this country.



Marx Plays Solos With Theodore Thomas Orchestra
Mr. Marx appeared with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra for ten years.  At the age of twenty he held the position of first violinist in this famous organization and later on played solos accompanied by the Thomas Orchestra.  Mr. Thomas has joined in the applause for encores for Mr. Marx, solos.

Leon Marx was born in Cincinnati in the centennial year and received his first instruction on the violin when only seven years of age.  At the time of his graduation at the Chicago Musical College in '91 he was the child winner of the Ziegfield diamond medal—the highest honor that a violinist can attain in Chicago and he was treated to an ovation.



Won Scholarship Prize In Berlin
Mr. Marx, while in Berlin, competed with 48 musicians for a scholarship under Dr. Joachim and won the prize.  Dr. Joachim was so pleased with his able pupil's work that he presented young Marx with a rare old violin as a mark of appreciation of his genius.  Marx was most favorably received everywhere in the German capital.



Assistant Concert Meister—Chicago Grand Opera Co.
Recently Mr. Marx was appointed assistant concert meister of the Chicago Grand Opera Company—one of the highest positions that can come to a violinist in this country.  At the close of the recent grand opera season in Chicago he accompanied the Chicago Grand Opera Company on its St. Louis and Philadelphia tour.

Mr. Marx has played twice at the home of John D. Rockefeller.  He has played at Mandel Hall, Chicago University, in the University summer concerts.  He has appeared on the same programs with Chas.  W. Clark and Mrs. Eleanor Fisher.



Has Played at Concerts with Nordica
Marx has also played as violinist with Seidl and his Orchestra at Metropolitan Opera House in concerts during the appearances of Nordica, Ysaye, Plancon, Pugno and Gerardy.




Hans Dressel-Solo Violoncellist
Hans Dressel, the eminent violoncellist, with this company, was born in London, where his father was an esteemed professor of the piano.  He lost his mother when he was twelve years old.  Both parents were good musicians.

He soon mastered the rudiments of music and appeared at an early age as pianist at both public and private recitals.  Having also taken lessons on the violin from an Hungarian Virtuoso, he successfully practised both instruments, already playing difficult pieces by Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and others and on the violin, Rode's Air Varie and Beethoven's Romance in F.



Continued Studies Abroad.
Not wishing him to miss a sound general education he was sent to St. Paul's School, and after the death of his mother he continued his studies abroad, going to Weimar, where he eventually made the violoncello his principal instrument, with the world-renowned Grutzmacher for his master.  Making great progress, he soon came to London to join his father, who placed him under the Chevalier de Munck at the Guildhall School of Music, where he became first winner of the Libotton Prize for violoncello, upon which he was highly complimented by the principal professors and the press.

Soon afterwards he became first professor of his instrument at the Charterhouse School.  During his appointment he was often asked by the headmaster to arrange concerts for the benefit of the boys, at which concerts some of the most eminent artists in Europe assisted.



Dressel In Wales and In Oxford
His services as virtuoso were in such demand that he had to resign this honored post and devote his time to the concert platform.  In Wales and at Oxford his playing so took the audience that by special request he arranged ensemble classes in concerted music, which are a special feature of his tuition.

Herr Dressel has played at Goodwood Castle, Stafford House, and at the late Duke of Richmond's, the Royal Albert Hall, St. James Hall, the Queen's Hall, and all the principal London and provincial concerts.

He has had most flattering notices in most of the leading contemporaries in Germany and in England, Canada, East and Northwest of this country.



Carl Machlin-Pianist of the Trio
Mr. Machlin the pianist with this company received his first training in the Cathedral Choir at Salesbury, England.  He studied the piano and composition under Dr. Clark Ward, for some six years with great success.  He came to Winnepeg, Canada, in 1905 where he taught for a number of years, continuing his studies in technique with John Sebastian Ambler, a pupil of both Godozoski and Friedheim.

During the last three years of his stay in Winnepeg, he held the professorship at St. Bonifice College.  More recently he has been a teacher at the Chicago Musical College.  He is also a composer.