MUSICAL COURIER
46
February 2 3, 1922
GRAND RAPIDS MUSIC
MEMORY CONTEST A SUCCESS
John McCormack Sings in the Armory—Annual Concert by Schubert Club—Godowsky in Recital—St. Cecilia Society Concerts—Mrs. MacDowell Talks of Peterboro and Plays—Notes
Grand Rapids, Mich., February 10, 1922.—“If you want to know how they conducted the most successful music memory contest ever held in the United States, write to John W. Beattie, supervisor of music in the public schools of Grand Rapids, general chairman of the contests held there last year and this. That was part of the advice which C. M. Tremaine, director of the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music, gave to a newspaper editor who wrote to him asking how to go about planning a music memory contest.
This year’s second annual contest, conducted through cooperation of all the musical interests of the city and the Grand Rapids Press, from January 3 to March 10, has aroused an astonishing amount of interest, not alone in the city, but also throughout the State. The foremost professional musicians of the city have given of their talent and zeal with unstinting generosity to further this endeavor, to reveal to people how much they really enjoy music and the best there is in music, The public schools have trained all their pupils between the fifth and the ninth grades, inclusive, to be able to identify at hearing the contest compositions, a required part of the instruction in music to which seventy-five minutes is devoted weekly.	The
parochial, Christian and private schools have co-operated actively. Wide variety of opportunity has been provided for the thousands of listeners who are following the contest to familiarize themselves with the music listed.
Eight Thursday evening concerts in Press Hall, free to the public, with programs provided by leading local members of the musical profession, have attracted such throngs that it was found necessary to arrange overflow concerts in the Ladies’ Literary Club at the same hour and with the same program and with the same musicians in a different order.
Studio recitals have been given weekly by Arthur An-dersch at the Andersch Piano School; by Marguerite Kort-lander, pianist; Marguerite Colwell, pianist; Marie Esta-brook, pianist; Bertha Sekell, pianist, and by the music department of Sacred Heart Academy. At Calvin College, Tuesday evening, recitals of contest numbers are given weekly, arranged by Helen Baker Rowe, with the assistance of other musicians.
Every Sunday a large proportion of the organists of the city include contest numbers in their church music, for organ and choir. The theater orchestras and the organists at the motion picture theaters include numbers from the contest list in their program for every performance, and in some instances give weekly recitals, during the performance, made up entirely of contest music. At the luncheon clubs,
The Sunday Evening Musicale at the Browning Hotel on January 23 was given by three pupils of Reese Veatch— Mrs. Malcolm Denise, soprano; Dr. W. B. Klinesteker, tenor, and Joseph Hummel, baritone.
Mrs. Morris White, soprano, for some time music editor on the Grand Rapids Herald, has opened a vocal studio.
Arthur Andersch gave a^ piano recital in Battle Creek on January 18. He was assisted by Marcia Lewis, soprano, with Marie Donner Bush as accompanist.
The concert on the Master Artists’ Course, which was to have been given by Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, and the Detroit String Quartet, has been cancelled on account of the illness of Mrs. Gabrilowitsch
H. B. R.
Activities of Klibansky Pupils
Elsie Duffield, artist pupil of Sergei Klibansky, has been engaged as soloist by the First Reformed Church of Brooklyn and at the Synagogue Bnai Sholm, Brooklyn. She gave a successful recital in Newark, January 30.
Among other pupils’ activities are these: Grace Marcella. Liddane has been engaged for a concert in Amsterdam, N. Y., April 24. Virginia Rea, who has just returned from a successful Western tour, has been engaged for a concert in Cumberland, Md., February 15. Ruth Pearcy will be soloist at the concert of the Apollo Club, Asbury Park, N. J., February 10, and has also been engaged to sing the solo part m “The Holy City” in New York, February 6.
Mr Klibansky gave several pupils’ recitals as follows: At the Wanamaker auditorium, January 31; Educational Alliance, January 29; Hartley House, February 6; Auditorium of the Germania, Brooklyn, February 4, when the following pupils sang:	Elsie Duffield, Elveda Lofgren
Grace Marcella Liddane, Amelia Miller, Grace Hardy, Dorothy Hobbie, Dorothy Claussen, Stephanie Koppen, Walter Preston, Jane Cater, Miriam Steelman and Hope Loder Mary Ludmgton was the accompanist.
Katherine Mortimer Smith and Dorothy *Claussen were the successful artists at Washington Irving High School January 29 and February 5.
Two University Dates for Ethelynde Smith
One of the recitals on Ethelynde Smith’s recent coast to coast tour was at the University of Montana, Missoula. Mont., when the hall was packed with students and there were many standees.
On November 2 Miss Smith sang at the State University, Moscow, Idaho, at which time her interesting program was enthusiastically received by some eleven or twelve hundred students and members of the faculty. The soprano was compelled to give five encores and at the close of the concert the dean of the music department told Miss Smith that she would have another appearance at the University next season.
Patton to Be Remembered in Utica
On January 25 Fred Patton appeared in Utica, N. Y., as soloist with the B Sharp Musical Club. “His solos helped to make the afternoon one long to be remembered,” said the Utica Observer in commenting upon the baritone’s performance.
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Tosti; “When the Dew Is Falling,” Schneider; “On the Beach at Otahai,” Harrison; “The Palanquin Bearers,” Shaw; “Vale,” Russell; and a group of Irish folk songs. He was assisted by Donald McBeath, violinist, with Edwin Schneider acting as accompanist.
Annual Concert Given by Schubert Club.
The annual concert of the Schubert Club, a chorus of about eighty male voices, with Francis Campbell as director, took place on December 20, in Central High School auditorium. Especially noticeable since the last concert, was the improvement in tone quality and shading. The best numbers were the traditional song, “When Peaceful Night;” “In Picardie,” by Osgood; “Lullaby,” by Brahms, and ‘Hymn of the Pilgrims,” by MacDowell. Assisting was Lillian Eubank, of Chicago, who sang Puccini’s “Vissi d arte and two groups of songs. The very efficient accompanist for Miss Eubank and the chorus was Harold Tower.
Godowsky in Piano Recital.
On January 16 in the St. Cecilia auditorium, a piano recital was given by Leopold Godowsky, under the auspices of the Monday Evening Chorus of the St. Cecilia Society. Mr. Godowsky received enthusiastic applause for his excellent playing of the following program: twelve symphonic studies, Schumann; “Musette en Rondeau and Tambourin,” Rameau-Godowsky; "Pastoral,” Corelli - G o d o w s k y; “Gigue,” Loeilly-Godowsky; sonata in B flat minor, berceuse, and scherzo, B minor, Chopin; “On Wings of Song,” Mendelssohn-Liszt; “March Wind,” MacDowell; “Serenade,” Rubinstein; “Concert Study,’ Poldini; “En Automne,” Moszkowski; “Tarantella,” Liszt.
St. Cecilia Society Recitals.
The St. Cecilia Society has given two fine recitals this month, the first one being a “Members’ Recital,” by May Strong, soprano, and Katherine Conlon Johnson, violinist, of Chicago, who is spending the winter in the city. Miss Strong sang, besides two Handel arias and three French songs by Fourdrain and Poldowski, a charming group of Mother Goose songs, composed by herself. Mrs. Johnson played a sonata by Handel, the Lalo “Symphonie Es-pagnole,’ and a short group. Accompanist for Miss Strong was Mrs. Joseph Putnam, and for Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. H. Monroe Dunham.
Mrs. MacDowell Talks of Peterboro and Plays.
The recital on January 20 was by Mrs. Edward MacDowell, who talked delightfully of her famous husband and of the commendable efforts which are being made for creative artists at Peterboro, afterwards playing selections from the “Sea Pieces,” the “Fireside Tales,” the “New England Idyls,” “Woodland Sketches,” and other numbers.
Notes.
The popular series _ of Lenten Morning Musicales arranged by the St. Cecilia Society will be held on March 8 and 21 and April 5. The artists will be Carolyn Willard pianist; Arthur Kraft, tenor, and Herman Felber, vio-
also; much^ contest music is heard. At social gatherings, at pupils’ recitals, at municipal picture shows, at community centers, in schoolhouses, such programs are given weekly by pianists, violinists and vocalists. Also, ten different music dealers give talking-machine renditions of contest music once a week each.
The eight Thursday evening concerts, arranged by Mrs. J. A. Michaelson in behalf of the general committee, were in charge of Caroline Heth, contralto, on January 19; May Strong, soprano, January 26; Eugene J. Phillips, organist of St. Andrew[s Cathedral, on February 2; George E. Amos, Union High School, February 9; Forrest L. Buchtel, South High School, February 16; Agnus Douglas, director of the mixed choir at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, February 23; C. Conway Peters will be in charge March 2, and Mrs. J-. W. Brooks, pianist, March 9. After the preliminary elimination contests, the last concert and general contest will take place on March 10 in the Armory.
Each school day throughout the ten weeks of the contest, the Grand Rapids Press publishes a biography, usually of about 250 words, of one of the composers represented in the contest list, together with from one to two columns of news about the contest, announcements of concerts or other opportunities to hear the contest music performed. This very extensive publicity was an important factor of the widespread interest. These copyrighted biographies, which have also been printed as an entirety, and which other cities may obtain permission to use by applying to the Press, were specially written by the members of a committee consisting of Mrs. William H. Loomis, chairman; Marie Dan-hof, Irene Dunn, Cornelia Hopkins, Bessie Lindley, Bertha Bradford Murphy, John W. Beattie and Victor H. Henderson.
The prizes offered by_ the Press and by local music dealers, aggregate $1,200 in value. They are mostly in the form of credit orders, good for records, musical instruments, or any other musical merchandise the winners may wish to choose. Competitors are divided into five classes: Class A, pupils in the fifth and sixth grades; B, seventh to ninth grades, inclusive; C, high school students above the ninth grade; D, adults, and E, all contestants living more than five miles distant from the city limits of Grand Rapids.
Here is one more bit of testimony as to the success of this movement in the city: “Nothing so beneficial from the educational point of view,” declares superintendent of schools. W. A. Greeson, “has ever taken place in this city in all the years I have spent here.”
Detroit is already planning a contest and enquiries and requests for information are coming from all over the . state.
John McCormack Sings in the Armory.
As a concert aside from its regular course, the Mary Free Bed Guild presented John McCormack in the Armory on the evening of January 11. He greatly pleased his large audience in the following program: “O Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?” Handel; “Ombra mai fu,” Handel; “La Caravane.” Chausson: “Go Not Happy Day,” Bridge: "When Night Descends.” Rachmaninoff; “L’Alba Separa,”