31
musical courier
January 11, 1923
data to the contrary the Eight Piano Ensemble of the Music Club of Pottsville proved that questions of interpretation, tempi and rhythm can be thus solved by the unique performance given at the High School auditorium, December 13. The program opened with three Spanish dances ■by Moszkowski, played on eight pianos by thirty-two hands. This group appeared later to play' Schubert’s Marche Militaire and a waltz and bolero, by Moszkowski. A second group of sixteen .offered Chopin’s polonaise and two numbers by Cyril Scott. The ensemble displayed was remarkable and the huge audience was carried away with enthusiasm. Different ensemble combinations were given during the program. Eight pianos were played by sixteen hands, four pianos by sixteen hands, two pianos by eight and four hands and one duet. All the selections were most attractive. After the concert the Ensemble presented a complete collection of Leopold Godowsky’s Triakontameram, a set of thirty-two compositions in triple measure, to its director, Robert Broun.	G. E.
Richmond Hill, N. Y., January 2.—So great was Harold Land's success here December 14 that he was engaged to sing December 31 in Handel’s Messiah. He has also been engaged for The Messiah in Newburgh, January 21.
R.
San Diego, Cal. (See “Music on the Pacific Slope.”)
San Francisco, Cal. (See “Music on the Pacific Slope.”)
Washington, D. C. (See letter on another page.)
White Plains, N. Y., December 27.—The Nativity, by H. G. Stuart, was given here this evening before a large audience. The soloists included Elizabeth Lennox, contralto, and Harold Land, baritone. Their work was greatly enjoyed.
W.
Youngstown, Ohio, December 29.—A large crowd attended the concert on December 27, in the South High auditorium, by members of the Youngstown Choral Club under the direction of D. West Richards and W. H. Felger. The enthusiasm with which each number was received augurs well for the success of the choruses in the national Eisteddfod to be held at Utica on New Year’s Day. More than $3,000 was necessary to defray the expenses of the club to Utica, the most of which was pledged by Youngstown friends of the club.	R. M.
dents of the Eilenberg studio, a well balanced and entertaining program was rendered.
An Indian operetta, The Feast of the Red Corn, was given by forty students of the Capitol Heights School.
Two recent compositions of John Proctor Mills are The Song of the Mocking Bird, written for and dedicated to two of Alabama’s Blind Nightingales, Florence Golson and Mary Cowherd; and The Song of the Welsh Harper, dedicated to Dan Beddoe of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.	J. P. M.
Oakland, Cal. (See “Music on the Pacific Slope.)
Ogden, Utah, December 18.—The Sempre Musical Society recently presented Phillip Gordon, pianist, and Eleanor Whittemore, violinist, to a large gathering in the Ogden Tabernacle. Mr. Gordon’s skill and artistic qualities were displayed in a program which included Mendelssohn’s Rondo capriccioso and Andante cantabile, Tschai-kowsky, and Venezia e Napoli by Liszt. Miss Whittemore gave a delightful performance of Sarasate’s Romanza Andalusia, which proved popular with the audience. L. L.
Paris, Tex., December IS.—Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was given a very successful presentation at Central Presbyterian Church by a small chorus of solo voices under the direction of Corinne Dargan Brooks. Gladys de Sylva Hinchey’s reading of Hiawatha’s Wooing and several Indian melodies by Cadman prefaced the performance. Those participating were Mrs. Frank Fuller, Mignon House,' sopranos; Mrs. Edward Lowery, Mrs. Frean Grimes, Elizabeth McGuire, altos; Tom Johnson, Felts Fort, tenors; Ben Walters, John Sturgeon and Frank Fuller, basses.
A recital was given by Mrs. J. C. Miller, mezzo-soprano, assisted by Gladys de Sylva Hinchey, reader, in the High School auditorium. Corinne Dargan Brooks was at the piano. Mrs. Miller sang an aria from Orpheo, by Gluck, one from Carmen and several groups of English songs. A song of her own composition and one by Mrs. Hinchey added unusual interest to the program. Mrs. Hinchey read three numbers and Mrs. Brooks gave a group of piano selections.	G.
Portland, Ore. (See “Music on the Pacific Slope.”)
Pottsville, Pa., December 20.—Can sixteen women come to perfect agreement about anything? In spite of all
ROSA PONSELLE SAYS SOME SENSIBLE
WORDS ABOUT SONG PROGRAMS
vaudeville days taught me things of inestimable value. My audience may think that I am rendering a set program throughout, but I start to study it from the moment I make my first entry and by the time I have finished my first group of songs after an opening aria from one of my operatic roles, I feel fairly certain that I know about what my hearers want. Sometimes the lightest and most inconsequential ditty seems to ‘go’ the best. And, speaking of 'ditties,’ I am having a contest with a very good and kind friend of mine who is a critic on a newspaper in a city where I have appeared three times. On my first appearance there 1 responded to an encore with a humorous little thing which happened to catch the audience as nothing else on the urogram. He, however, thinks that such numbers are beneath the dignity of a Metropolitan prima donna and called it a ‘banality’ in his review. On the second occasion I gave it again and the next day he called it ‘trivial nonsense.’ This season he dug deep into his dictionary and flung ‘silly twaddle’ at me via the linotype man. I am booked there again next season, and so long as that particular audience likes that song, I am going to sing it until I drive my critical friend to hunting up adjectives from Sanscrit or cry quits.
“Our people are advancing musically in great strides, but 1^ do not believe that it is either the duty or the prerogative of a successful artist to attempt to force a more rapid advancement in musical knowledge or taste by giving programs composed entirely of the higher compositions. Each and every artist of any standing on the American concert platform is, in a way, a torch-bearer in the movement to improve the public taste in things musical—a musical missionary, if you will. But a missionary in the middle of the Great Sahara wouldn’t secure many converts for the good and sufficient reason that there would be no one to convert. Neither can a public singer improve the musical taste of empty chairs—and empty chairs are in the majority when an artist attempts to force a strictly ‘high-brow’ program the second time. One cannot cook a fish while it is still at the bottom of a pool. It must first be caught, and that holds good as regards the missionary work. First catch your audience with what, for a better term, we call a popular program, but which contains numbers from the master composers. In this way one’s audience thoroughly enjoys the greater part of the program and is in a receptive mood for the better compositions which, in time, they learn to appreciate and enjoy just as much. And, honestly, I believe that the ‘high-brow’ music lover enjoys the old ballads and emotional things just as much as the less musically-educated occupant of the next seat, although he wouldn’t let him know it for all the tea in China.”
“The formulation of programs for an extended concert tour,” says Rosa Ponselle, upon her return from a two and one-half months’ swing around the circle” after which she launched on her fifth consecutive season with Mr. Gatti’s forces at the Metropolitan Opera House, “is not the least of the tasks incidental to such an undertaking.
‘•‘Naturally there are many considerations to be weighed and puzzled over. One cannot, of course, give the identical program on a return engagement as that previously presented, but it is often advisable to include some of the numbers sung before. I faithfully keep a file of old programs, and by a system of markings 1 can go over them and note the impressions and effects made on my audiences by each number. These old files I find invaluable. If they tell me that a particular selection, in the parlance of the stage, ‘went big,’ I know that those who come to hear me the second time will want to hear it again. The love of a good song grows with repetition.
“I believe that concert audiences are of the same composition in all parts of the country, and that a program which is accepted as ‘balanced’ in the East is received as such in the West. There is no longer any line of demarcation dividing our country into sections where good music is or is not known and appreciated. Our friend, the phonograph, has had a lot to do with wiping out this line. But in every audience there is a certain element of those people who, through the advantages of wealth, leisure or environment, have been able to make a study of music and its development. This part of an audience comes to weigh and to judge as well as listen, and its standard is high. To meet its requirements the singer must choose his numbers with extreme care from the works of the recognized masters, and then put in many strenuous hours of diligent vocalizing and study that they may be rendered (within the limits of his equipment and ability) with all technic, expression and feeling with which the composer endowed them.
“The greater part of my audience, however, may be classed as just plain music lovers, many of whom possess little or no technical musical education, but upon whose verdict, in the final analysis, the success or failure of a song recital may depend. But because they are not critics, in the generally accepted sense, it does not follow that the choice of numbers for their enjoyment is any easier a task than choosing those from the so-called masters. They must contain an appeal of some sort—an appeal to some dormant memory, a ■heart interest (love interest, if you will), pride of race or nationality, or something effecting the locale.
“As to encores, I never select them until after I have sensed and felt out my audience. In this process, my
’/TONE:
Mr. Land can be secured by addressing him direct at his home address: GREEN GABLES, YONKERS, N. Y. or through his manager:	Antonia Sawyer, Aeolian Hall, New York.
tion. Eleanor Clark is the official pianist. Gertrude Baker presided at the organ.
When Frances Druckerman, pianist; Theodore Saiden-berg, pianist; and Daniel Saidenberg, cellist, appeared in a concert at the Fairfax Theater under the auspices of the Council of Jewish Women Mana-Zucca, composer and pianist, assumed a new role for the occasion. She wrote the criticism for the Sunday Herald, which was very complimentary to all the artists.
June Johnson, a talented young pianist, played Mana-Zucca’s Valse Brilliante and the Frolic at the Housekeeper’s program in Cocoanut Grove.	L. B. S.
Montclair, N. J., December 30.—Harold Land, baritone, was heard here December 3 under the auspices of the Mercer-Hadley Mission. He made a deep impression. He was accompanied by Mr. Lefevre, the organist of Trinity Church, New York.	M.
Montgomery, Ala., December 27.—The Treble Clef Club, under Charlotte Mitchell Smith, and the Montgomery Music Club, under Eloise Reynolds Neeley, brought Charles Wakefield Cadman and Princess Tsianina for a recital on November 29. Tsianina gave excellent interpretations of her Indian songs, and the audience greeted her with spontaneous applause after each number. The winning numbers of her program were the arias from Cadman’s Shanewis, Pale Moon (Logan), from Land of the Sky Blue Water and At Dawning (Cadman). Cadman received much praise for his fine handling of the Indian melodies and his sonata for piano. Tsianina and Cadman were the guests of Mary Proctor Mills and her son, John Proctor Mills.
Claire Dux, the second attraction of the Montgomery concert course, was presented to a large and enthusiastic audience on December 4, at the Municipal Auditorium. She was heard in a well balanced program. Herbert Goods, a former Atlanta boy, was at the piano and received a goodly share of the applause for his splendid playing. This was the second appearance of Claire Dux here during the year, she having established herself as a favorite last spring.
F. Douglas Adair, instructor of music at the State Normal School, a leading negro institution, gave a twilight musicale at the A. M. E. Church recently, which was well attended.
Claire Dux and Herbert Goode gave a few numbers before the faculty and student body of the Margaret Boothe School for Girls.
William L. Van Pelt was recently elected director of the Big Brothers’ Chorus at the First Presbyterian Church, succeeding C. Guy Smith.
The Treble Clef Club, under the direction of C. Guy Smith, gave a splendid program last month at its musicale tea, presenting Juliet Burke, violinist, and Eloise Cromwell, contralto. The chorus was under the direction of Frank Woodruff and Mrs. James Haygood was the accompanist for the soloists.
The University Glee Club of Alabama University was presented in a concert at Sidney Lanier High School auditorium recently. One of the outstanding numbers of the program was a musical-comedy sketch, text by Miss Pake and music by Preston Weil, citizens of this city. Starke Paddock in piano solos and songs, and Mary Frances O’Connell, local singer, were especially enjoyed. The club is under the direction of Tom Garner and was well received here.
Edna Walgrove Wilson, contralto, a former student of the Haywood studio and of Delia Valeri of New York, has been well received in this city on both of her recent appearances, at Temple Beth-Or on Armistice Day, and at a reception held by the Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. James Haygood was her accompanist.
John Proctor Mills was presented as baritone soloist before the Parent-Teachers’ Association of the Cottage Hill School during November, and a number of his own compositions were enjoyed.
The newest music club here is one made up of the younger set, who have named themselves Le Club de Vingt Musiques. The officers are: Estelle Thompson, president; Hazel Hannah, vice-president; Virginia Bragg Smith, secretary-treasurer ; Inez Powell, historian; Rachel Rushton, parliamentarian ; Mrs. Bailey Hurley, corresponding secretary. At the first meeting, Eloise Cromwell, contralto, and Amelia Pincus, violinist, were heard. Mrs. James Haygood was the accompanist. At the last meeting the subject was American and English composers, Charles Wakefield Cad'man and Sir Arthur Sullivan being represented. Rachel Rushton presented a sketch of the life of Cadman, and Eleanor Neely played Cadman’s Love Song.
Montgomery friends of Annelu Burns of Selma have received a new song, Ah Me, lyric, written by Miss Burns, with music by Modest Altschuler, conductor of the Russian Symphony Orchestra.
Mrs. Joseph Kaufman presented her young students recently in a recital. Mary and Lizzie Sheen, Lillian Cooner, Epatha Pepperman, Helen Carey and Louise Flahardy played. Mrs. Emil Wise sang several numbers.
The Civic Improvement Society and Parent-Teachers’ Association of Capitol Heights gave an evening musicale for the benefit of the improvement fund, under the direction of William L. Van Pelt. The program consisted of several dances given by the students of Amelia Harper Rosenberg, choruses, trios, solos and quartet. Soloists included Fanny Marks Seibels, Mrs. Fred Perry, William Perdue and Mary Frances O’Connell.
Paul Verpoest, teacher of violin at Alabama Woman’s College, played several of his own compositions before the faculty and student body of the college recently, and was well received.
The Sacred Harp Singers, under the direction of A. L. Kimbrough and Miles C. Allgood, were the musical attraction before the Baracca Class recently at the First Baptist Church. Other numbers were by the Baraca Quartet and Chorus, under the direction of Thomas Clanton Calloway, organist of the church.
The Jewish Temple Agudath Israel has engaged the services of Rabbi Kurland of London, England, who is a splendid cantor, possessing a tenor voice. Recently he gave several numbers at the Temple.
Another, addition to musical circles of the city is Father M. P. Campodonico, who has taken charge of St. Peter’s Catholic Church choir.
The Mothers’ Circle recently gave a Fathers’ Night at the Gay-Teague Hotel. Mrs. J. Starke, contralto; Mrs. E. E. Cobb, soprano and president of the club, and Juliet Burke, violinist, were much enjoyed in a musical program.
At the two-hundred and seventy-fifth recital of the stu-