7
MUSICAL COURIER
March 1, 1923
CEYLONESE MUSICIANS AND CEREMONIAL DANCERS.
The drums are “mry dangas."
Pavlowa Here in October
Anna Pavlowa and her Ballet Russe are now appearing in Bombay, India, and at the conclusion of this engagement they will wind up their five months’ tour of the Far East and India. From Bombay Mme. ־ j Pavlowa goes to Egypt, where she has been engaged for a lengthy engagement at the Kurshall Theater in Cairo. By the early part of April, Mme. Pavlowa expects to return to her London home, where, after a brief rest, she will put into preparation and rehearsals the entire programs for her forthcoming American tour commencing early in October.
While in Japan, Mme. Pavlowa, under the guidance of one of the leading masters of Tokio, made a thorough study of the national dances of the Orient, which she intends to incorporate in an elaborate ballet to be included in her repertory. She will also make an exhaustive study of the native dances of the Egyptians, during her Cairo engagement, with a view to acquiring material for her programs.
Mme. Anna Pavlowa’s American tour will open in New York on October 8 with a two weeks’ engagement at the Manhattan Opera House. After engagements in Boston and Montreal, the company heads straight West, appearing in the principal cities of the Middle West and reaching the Coast for a five weeks’ engagement during the months of January and early February. The company will return East via Texas and the Southern States.
Mme. Pavlowa’s company will come here reinforced by the services of both Laurent Novikoff and Alexandre Voli-nine, the two leading dancers formerly associated with her. Entirely new ballets with new settings and costumes will be presented here. The tour will be under the exclusive direction of S. Hurok, who also arranged and directed her tour in the Far East and Orient this season.
Russian Music at Guild Hall, St. Thomas’ Church
A program of unusual interest and attractiveness was given February 8 in the Guild Hall of St. Thomas’ Church, Fifth avenue, New York, under the auspices of the Young Men’s Club. The artists were Helene Romanoff, Russian soprano; Eugene Plotnikoff, conductor-composer, of the Imperial theaters of Moscow and Petrograd, and the Paris Opera House; and Harold Land, the American baritone who has been soloist of St. Thomas’ Church for the past eight years. The program was made up of compositions of the following Russian composers: Rachmaninoff, Tschaikowsky, Glier, Plotnikoff, Glazounoff, Gretchani-noff, Grodzky and Seroff. Each artist who appeared was applauded to the echo, and many encores were demanded. Mr. Land played the accompaniments for his encores.
Macbeth Featuring Roberts’ Songs
Among the songs which Florence Macbeth, coloratura soprano of the Chicago Civic Opera Company, is singing to audiences on her present extensive concert tour to the Coast, are Pierrot and In My Garden, both from the pen of George Roberts. The latter is a short and highly effective encore song. Miss Macbeth is also singing A Night Song, Song of the Waiting One, from a new cycle; and Songs of India, by Lily Strickland. These are still in manuscript form, but will soon be published by J. Fischer & Brother. One of Miss Macbeth’s continued successes is Gertrude Ross, Japanese song, Sakura Blossom.
cient Sanskrit origin, but this is only one of an infinite number of variations. There are seventy-two seven-toned scales alone, and more scales of fewer tones. The so-called whole-toned scale has been in common use here for five thousand years, and this is a fact which Western musicians know so little about that they call composers who employ these whole-toned scale modes, “modernists.” The^ Raga, Raginis or musical modes govern the system of music used in the Eastern music, and the native singer must always be mindful of the check reins of this Raga law.
The Ceylonese music is melodic, not harmonic or polyphonic. They use drums as a basis of harmony with tonic, sub-dominant or dominant effect on the sometimes tuned note of the drum. They have no conception of harmony as we know it, and to call their music “melodic” may be a misnomer from our standpoint. The Ceylonese love to sing and they elaborate and extemporize as they go, producing a vague, wandering, and curiously detached effect on the listener who does not understand the scale or system of music used. The more modern forms of harmony as we have them are but a natural development of civilization and intellect, and are entirely unknown to older but less progressive races. India boasts the oldest civilization in the world, and yet her music has remained practically unchanged for over five thousand years.
In the course of Ceylon’s history, each invading tribe has left his imprint upon the music-character of the country, contributing variations of songs, modes and instruments. The Sinhalese, for example, are fondest of plaintive music, slow and of constantly changing rhythm. One of their most pouplar songs is called The Horse Trot, and its rhythm is intended to convey the impression of a horse’s hoof beats.
The Ceylonese Buddhist likes best to sing of the virtues of Lord Buddha. He is fond, too, of singing songs of kings, of great deeds and of the past. There is a wealth of legend, mythology and history connected with the music of these people. Even the language of their love songs is symbolical. They deal in metaphors and in allegory. The chief subject matter of the Ceylonese is of a religious nature and drawn from their various sacred books.
On the whole, the music of the Himalayan Buddhists and the Ceylonese Buddhists has much in common, being-taken from the same fundamental sources. In the lighter moods and modes the music likewise reflects the nature of the people themselves, who are usually cheerful, simple, and much more uncomplex than their religion would indicate. Their music, like ours, is the language of their emotions, and there is not much difference in emotions, reduced to a primitive basis.
In conclusion, we can never come to love or understand Eastern music so long as we compare it with our own. It is different, just as any foreign language is different, and has to be studied in the same way. ־ It is a deep subject, but full of fascination and interest to the music student, who is prepared to keep his mind open and to forget his criticism and prejudice.
LILY STRICKLAND, AUTHOR OE THIS ARTICLE,
among the monoliths at Shilong, Assam.
Pettis with London Quartet
Ashley Pettis was enthusiastically welcomed to Plainfield recently in the performance of the Schumann piano quintet, which he performed with the London String Quartet. His poetic feeling, his genuine insight into the deepest emotional sentiments, and his remarkable virile technic gave great pleasure to a crowded house. This concert was said to be one of the best there and his admirers are anticipating Pettis’ return in recital with pleasure.
GROUP OF NATIVE CEYLONESE MUSICIANS AND A DANCER.
The musicians, left to right, hold a native bagpipe, a cithar and a Vdakea (drum).