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The Friday night performance of Gounod’s “Faust” was notable for many reasons. Florence Easton sang the exacting role of Marguerite with delightful certainty of attack and warmth of coloratura. Particularly in the garden scene was she the vocal embodiment of girlish curiosity; and no Marguerite has ever sung here with such eloquent realism the tragic music of the prison scene. While she was unquestionably the star, she had to share honors with Paul Althouse, who sang the glowing lines of Faust with ardor and resonance, and with Jeannette Vreeland, who imparted uncommon vivacity and silvery clarity to her part of the youth Siebel. Miss Vreeland was unusually successful with the “Flower Song.” Carolina Lazzari’s too-small part of Martha was sung with taste and a nice discrimination. Norman Jollif, baritone, who has sung here before, and Frank Cuthbert, baritone, quite distinguished themselves in the respective roles of Valentine and Wagner. Mr. Cuthbert sang particularly well the fine introductory music to the students’ choral lines in the second act, delivering them with true operatic quality. William Gustafson’s ringing voice and keen appreciation of the derisive scoring given to Me-phistopheles made that trying part stand out with a prominence reminiscent of the best days of Pol Planqon.
The selection of Gounod’s masterpiece for the first time in the history of the festival enterprise was amply justified by the signal success also of the thoroughly trained chorus led by John J. Bishop, veteran conductor. Never has the famous “Soldiers’ Chorus” been sung here with such beautiful shading. The assistance of the auditorium organ, played by Harry H. Kellogg, added much to the climax points in the florid and dramatic score, at both evening concerts of the festival.
Leopold Godowsky’s Masterly Performance.
Cornish Pupils Have Busy Weeks
As the first year of the Cornish School of Seattle in its new home draws to an end the students have been kept very busy in the various recitals which have taken place. The month of May began with a dance recital on May 1, given by the pupils of Clara Damrosch Seymour. The next event took place on May 5 and was a performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, “The Gondoliers,” under the direction of Jacques Jou-Jerville, head of the voice department, all the parts being taken by the pupils of the school. On the following day, May 6, there were no less than three events at the school: in the afternoon a recital by the juvenile pupils of Miss Burgess, Miss Fonesbeck and Miss Hartman, and also a piano recital by the pupils of Marian Coryell ; in the evening, artist pupils in violin, piano and voice from classes of Miss Dali, Mrs. Strong and Messrs. Armstrong and Wells gave a joint recital. On May 12 there was a song recital by four pupils of Sara Y. B. Peabody—Constance Hart, Ruby Mitchell, Margaret Hurlbut and Anona Roberts—followed on May 13 by a program given by the young piano pupils of Lida Hartshorn. The same evening there was another recital of advanced pupils belonging to the classes of Miss Dali, Messrs. Armstrong, Kirchner and Wells. Another event scheduled for this month is a concert by the Cornish Symphony Orchestra to be given at the Masonic Temple on May 29, and on June 9 there comes the annual dance festival of the school at the Metropolitan Theater.
Schumann Heink Prominent in Review of New York Season
On April 30, an interesting review of the New York musical season, written by Deems Taylor, the critic of the New York World, appeared in that paper. In summing up the best recital singers of the year, Mr. Taylor said:	“Ernestine Schumann Heink furnished another liv-
ing demonstration of the fact that a great voice does not wear out if it has kind treatment.”
Incidentally, the great contralto won this critical approval of her art for her recital at the Hippodrome in New York, toward the end of a busy season, when she had sung over sixty engagements without showing any signs of fatigue, as many another singer twenty years her junior would have done after such a long and strenuous tour singing continuously.
Campanari Endorses Cecilia Guider’s Art
Campanari has written the following endorsement of Cecilia Guider’s art: “Cecilia Guider has the most important essentials required to be a successful artist. First, brains, charming appearance, and musical intelligence; a very sweet voice of appealing quality; she delivers a song exquisitely, and in her appearance in Carnegie Hall on December S, 1921, she demonstrated all this artistic quality with a well deserved success.”
Mrs. Guider gave a concert in Toledo, Ohio, on April 24, and is expected to give three recitals in New York next season.
Chalmers Clifton Musical Director A. O. S.
At the annual meeting of the board of Directors of the American Orchestral Society, Inc., held recently, Chalmers Clifton was elected musical director for next season.
Photo by J. Carroll Brown, Inc.	.
SOME PRINCIPALS AT THE SPRINGFIELD, MASS., TWENTIETH ANNUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL Reading right to left:	Dr. Emil Mollenliauer, conductor of the Boston Festival Orchestra, former distinguished violinist
and concert master; Mrs. Mollenliauer; George R. Bond, former famous Springfield vocalist, now treasurer of the Spring-field Music Festival Association; Prof. William Churchill Hammond, whose organ recital opened the festival, and who is head of the music department of Mt. Holyoke College; Rosa Ponselle, soprano; Blanche Bar־bot, accompanist for Carolina Lazzari; Carolina Lazzari, contralto, and Edith Prelick, Miss Ponselle’s secretary.
There was much interest in the first appearance in many years of Leopold Godowsky, last here with Ysaye. His Chopin E minor concerto was a wonderful performance. Besides his masterly playing of the Rubinstein “Serenade” and a beautiful Moszkowski number, he read into the lines of the Mendelssohn-Liszt “Wings of Song” brilliant virtuosity. The great audience so persistently applauded Liszt's “Tarantella” that the pianist came back, after a dozen recalls, to play with fascinating skill and daintiness another Liszt number, seldom heard, the “March of the Gnomes.” Playing with facile technic and with crisp, sensitive yet always daring touch, he made all of his eight selections distinctly memorable.
Boston Festival Orchestra.
Emil Mollenhauer’s masterly conducting of the Boston Festival Orchestra of sixty pieces was keenly enjoyed, especially in the Tschaikowsky four-movement symphony, the scherzo section of which the band played with extraordinary
■SPRINGFIELD’S TWENTIETH ANNUAL
MAY FESTIVAL A GREAT SUCCESS
Florence Easton, Paul Althouse, Jeannette Vreeland, Norman Jollif and Frank Cuthbert in “Faust”—Godowsky’s Masterly Performance—Rosa Ponselle and Carolina Lazzari Give Joint Concert
charm and sparkle. Nor was this impression lessened with the orchestral finale to a concert which will long be remembered as a red-letter one, Svendsen’s “Romeo and Juliet” fantasy. Throughout the festival the orchestra gave a “heaped up and running over” measure of excellence in instrumental setting for the music.
Rosa Ponselle and Carolina Lazzari.
Two famous natives of New England, one born in Connecticut and one in this state, now both members of the Metropolitan Opera Company, were friendly rivals for concert honors on the same stage of the “Artists’ Night” performance, in which all the tonal forces of the festival were successfully involved. The choral rendition of “Babylon’s Wave,” by Gounod, was quite as perfect as the previous nights’ great choruses were, and reflected great credit on the assiduous training conducted during the past several months by Mr. Bishop. This, and the imposing finale, the "Hallelujah” chorus, from the “Messiah,” in which the combined forces of orchestra, organ and full choir joined, were indescribably effective.
Rosa Ponselle’s chief aria, the “Involami” from Verdi’s “Ernani” was given a brilliant reading, and proved that she is now at a much higher point in operatic preparedness than when she appeared here either in concert or in the festival of 1919. She gave a spirited rendition of the “Pleurez 1 Pleurez!” which Chimene sings when mourning her dead father and lost lover; but the magnificent “Ernani” song easily eclipsed it. Tschaikowsky’s “At the Ball,” Rudolph Ganz’s “Memory” and the lovely MacFadyen “Homage to Spring” were like adding fuel to the flame of approval. She thereafter sang the Irish song, “You Don’t Know What You’re Missing When You Haven’t Got a Beau,” “Schlummerlied,” and Spross’ famous “Will o’ the Wisp,” which latter was in part repeated, one of the best of her encore pieces. To these she added “To a Messenger” by La Forge, the Verdi “Vespri Sicilian¡” and “Annie Laurie,” the last named sung to orchestra and chorus.
Carolina Lazzari sang six songs and four encore numbers superbly, which was no surprise to the many who enjoyed her beautiful song recitals in the same auditorium on two different and recent occasions—the last time with Rudolph Ganz. She gave a wonderfully clear and convincing account of her artistry in the “Amour Viens Aider” from “Samson et Delilah,” Saint-Saëns; and her rich and resonant voice was heard most effectively also in two of Richard Hage-man’s charming lyrics, “Do Not Go. My Love” and “The Cunning Little Thing.” Like the Saint-Saëns number, her “L’Heure Exquise,” by Poldowski, was sung in impeccable French; “The Shepherd’s Song” from Meyerbeer’s “Din-orah” was well suited to her style as well as being a tribute, in itself, to her intelligence in interpretation. Of her encores. Wilfred Sanderson’s “Until” was perhaps the most enjoyed. She gives the refreshing impression of ample vocal powers in reserve, and has a rare degree of platform poise and charm. The Ponselle-Lazzari concert will go down in local history as an event of extraordinary musical worth.
E. N. B.
Springfield, Mass., May 13, 1922.—The twentieth annual May Music Festival ended tonight with the Ponselle-Lazzari joint appearance, all of the 4,440 seats of the auditorium being filled by an enthusiastically appreciative audience. All misgivings as to the success of the 1922 series vanished before the great gathering of music-lovers with the opening program׳®{ Sunday afternoon, when Prof. William Church-01 Hammond, head of the music department of Mt. Holyoke College, played organ numbers by Ravel, Lull¡, ■d’BvtS׳y, Stoughton, Wagner and Russel. The assisting artist Was ,Rebecca Holmes Haight, cellist, of the music faculty of
Photo by J. Carroll Broom, Inc.
ROSA PONSELLE AND CAROLINA LAZZARI,
between concerts at the Springfield Music Festival. When others were napping they were “caught” exploring an ancient garden. (Quoting from Gartlan’s popular encore song, “Tying Apples on a Lilac Tree,” said Lazzari.)
Smith College, who played with charm and skill compositions by Bach, Handel, Soltermann and Kreisler. She plays her fine, ancient French instrument with a brilliancy to be expected of one who has cultivated her art with such masters as Arnold Janser, Willem Willeke and Alwyn Schroeder. Fine Performance of “Faust.”