47
MUSICAL COURIER
Stadium Auditions
for
Piano, Voice, Violin
beginning May 10, at Aeolian Hall, to select soloists for STADIUM CONCERTS
All applications should be sent to MRS. WILLIAM CO WEN, Chairman 250 West 57th Street, New York
showed much ability as well. All in all the three affairs went well, showing thorough preparation and variety of histrionic gifts. The cast of the last work (the understudies in parentheses) was as follows: Princess Chan, Evelyn Schiff (Helen Driscoll) ; Mai Ku, Mary Williams (Jean Havilan) ; Wee Ling, Antoinette Meyer (Viola Albrecht) ; Ow Long, Doris Coxon (Marie Gilroy) ; Solo, Slow, Slow, Marie Gilroy; Solo dancer, Muriel Esche. The young ladies of the ensemble were Muriel Asche, Viola Albrecht, Jeannette Baumohl, Catharine Carroll, Rose Daly, Florence Donovan, Helen Driscoll, Elizabeth Eckstein, Marion Epple, Frances Gilbert, Marie Gilroy, Marie Gewehr. Zelda Harris, Elizabeth Kulhay, Lillian Kaplan, Marian Phillips, Frances Poris, Helen Rague, Eva Rodin, Jean Havilan, Alice Zabehlicky, and Eleanor Zabehlicky.
Arnpico Concerts in Atlantic City
One of the most interesting of the formal Friday evening concerts given by the National Exhibitors, Inc., was presented- in Ampico Hall, Atlantic City, on April 27, when the assisting artists were Erna Cavelle, soprano ; Kurt Dieterle, violinist, and Ruby Cordery Warke, accompanist. All three of the artists did splendid work and were exceedingly well received So popular have these concerts become that the Leeds-Lippincott Company, of the Haddon Hall-Chalfonte management, gave an Ampico concert in Vernon Room on April 28 under the management of Mr. Phillips, musical manager of the hotels. This program was presented by Miss Cavelle, Mr. Dieterle, and the Chalfonte Trio, Joseph Martinelli, conductor.
by one of New York’s leading physicians. It may be well to add, however, a word as to the reaction of the writer to the events above cited. It does not seem important that Mr. Thorner has been able to cure a diseased throat by means of vocal technic. To allow that point to be too greatly stressed would be to put the balance on the wrong side of the scales. The point, as this writer conceives it, is not that, but tire convincing proof this cure gives of two things : first, Mr. Thorner’s thorough going scientific knowledge of the throat and its functions and proper use; second, Mr. Thorner’s skill and persistence as a vocal teacher.
Picture to yourself, if you will, the condition at the beginning of this cure, and the possibilities. The condition was clearly one of advanced disease. The possibilities were overstrain resulting in the permanent destruction of the voice, failure to effect a cure. With this in mind it is easy for one to picture the constant vigilance that must have been exercised by Mr. Thorner, the slow steps by which he approached every vocal exercise, the knowledge he demonstrated of what exercises to give and how far to carry them.
And if the story has a moral it is this: that a skilled voice teacher like Mr. Thorner is a safe man to be trusted with the development of the throat, not only the diseased throat but also the healthy one. The possessor of a fine natural voice naturally wants to know where he can be perfectly sure that it will not be ruined. He also wants to know where he may be most sure of not wasting his time and his money. For everything he has in the way of fortune may be in his throat. To place himself in the hands of a teacher is like investing a fortune. The investor wants to know how safe the investments are. And he also wants to know whether they will pay dividends.
The young man or woman with a voice wants to know just the same thing; wants to know where the voice may be safely invested, where it will be sure to pay, dividends. It is a risky business. . . . And that is the reason why this story is told. It is told because it ■convinced the writer that Mr. Thorner was one of those teachers who could be entrusted with the training of a voice, and it seemed to the writer that many a reader might like to hear about it.
Hein and Fraemcke Students Give Operas
The affiliated institutions, the New York College of Music and the New York American Conservatory of Music, Hein and Fraemcke directors, produced scenes from Cavalleria Rusticana, Der Freischütz and the Chinese operetta. The Feast of the Little Lanterns, on Sunday evening, May 6, at the Little Princess Theater. Olivia Martin showed to splendid advantage as Santuzza, acting with considerable routine, George Bernard doing well as Turiddu. Lucill Salz-berg, Marie Gewehr, and William Eymer were the remaining singers of the cast, Charles Trier staging the performance.
Mrs. John Gans, Leonora Hey man (of the Music Students’ League), and Angelo Travaglio were associated in the second act of Der Freischütz (staged by Marie Mattfeld), and all did well in this romantic opera. Paul Bliss’ Chinese operetta gave opportunity to a cast of six voung artists to show their ability, and Olivia Martin, who conducted it,
May 17, 19 2 3
Professional Skill
One day not long ago a curious story came to the writer’s ears. It had to do with the cure of a medical case without medical treatment, and it sounded so impossible that we dismissed it from our minds and forgot.
However, like many such tales, it bobbed up again. From other sources came the same story, with all sorts of variations and embellishments, set in different surroundings and sounding still more extraordinary and improbable. So it was again dismissed from mind and forgotten for the time being.
But somebody was talking. The singer—for a singer was the hero of this romance—was telling people that certain
things had really happened to her. And she had apparently made up her mind that it should be known, though she hesitated to have her name used, partly out of modesty and partly, perhaps, out of professional caution.
The writer was sufficiently impressed by the story, and by the importance of it if true, to undertake an investigation. After a good deal of quiet investigation and questioning the facts were obtained. A singer, it seemed, had suffered greatly from serious throat trouble. It was interfering with her career, on which she was entirely dependent for a living. She had various treatments without benefit, chiefly because she continued to use her voice and used it incorrectly, until finally she got hold of a specialist who cured her.
That was the story, but it did not fit all of the facts. For somewhere in the course of events a teacher had been active in the cure, and in this story as here told there seemed to be no mention of any teacher. So continuing the questioning the point was finally reached where the name of the doctor came out. One began to feel like a regular detective, sleuth hound. Only it was not a criminal we were searching for but the possessor of some information, some expert knowledge, that would obviously be of the greatest value to singers. For though this was no doubt an unusually severe case it was by no means exceptional, great numbers of singers suffering from throat trouble of one kind or another.
The doctor in this case was not averse to giving a history of the case, nor was he averse to mentioning the name of the teacher. The teacher was William Thorner, who is too well known to Musical Courier readers to need' any introduction. The most interesting feature of the case was the fact that the doctor himself sent his patient to Mr. Thorner.
But in doing so he did not believe that Mr. Thorner could effect a cure. It was not for that purpose that his services were requisitioned, but merely with the object of preparing the singer to avoid a recurrence of the trouble after a cure was effected. The physician, Dr. Seymour Oppenheimer, a noted specialist, makes this very clear in his own statement of the case, given below. As will be seen in his statement, the singer was entirely ignorant of the proper method of using the voice, and was constantly straining her throat in the practice of her profession. The result had become so serious that it was Dr. Oppenheimer’s opinion that surgical treatment would be necessary. He did not believe that a cure could be effected by any other means. But, by his own statement, after a short course of instruction with Mr. Thorner the throat appeared cured.
Dr. Oppenheimer’s statement follows;
"D. K., twenty-two, cabaret singer, consulted me in November, 1922, with a history that for a period of a number of weeks she had been unable to sing owing to the persistence of a hoarseness of marked degree. During this period she made many attempts at continuing her work but each time it was followed by an increase in the difficulty of vocalization. This patient had had no vocal training and the character of her singing might be described as the explosive, bellowing jazz type. Most of her singing career has been in an atmosphere unsuited for hygienic singing, and the physiology of tone production the patient has no knowledge of.
“The examination of the laryngeal apparatus showed a most intense congestion of the vocal cords as well as the ventricular bands and the tracheal mucous membrane was very hemorrhagic in appearance. Here and there were punctate hemorrhages in the vocal cords which probably had been induced by the strain and effort of forced singing at a time when the larynx was in a state of inflammation. On the free edge of each vocal cord was a nodule of considerable size interfering with the approximation of the cords. These nodules were apparently very fibrous in nature and as large as any I have ever observed.
"It has been my experience that nodules of this size were not corrected by local treatment nor by tone placing but surgical procedures for their removal necessary. In this particular case I decided, preliminary to any attempt at surgery, that I would have the patient instructed as to the proper method of voice use, and for this purpose referred her to William Thorner, a vocal instructor, who placed !her upon a series of tone exercises and gave her some definite instruction as to the correct method of using the singing voice. Within a few days there was distinctly noticeable a change in the appearance of the larynx and in the size of the cord nodules. After several weeks these nodules had diminished to a degree that was most astonishing to me. A subsequent examination made a month later showed a practically complete disappearance of the vocal nodules and the congestion of the larynx, and the patient stated that she was able to sing over long periods of time, appearing several times a day in her cabaret work without any vocal effort and without any change in her vo.ee. While I am not prepared to say that every case of vocal nodules will respond to tone placing as a corrective measure, yet it is a most valuable method of treatment and should in my opinion be employed before any surgical procedure is undertaken.
(Signed) Seymour Oppenheimer.
Evidently no further argument is necessary to prove the case. No argument could add anything to this statement

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MISS LUCREZIA BORI
Soprano
Metropolitian Opera Company Uses and Endorses
Exclusively
At the end of this, the first season in which I have used your pianos for my recital work, I want to express my complete satisfaction with the Concert Grands and my earnest thanks for the kindness and consideration which the Baldwin Company has always extended me.
In commenting upon the Baldwin Piano I am swayed above all else by the quality of its tone Pur*2> lovely, and inspiring. For the singer this tone represents a sure source of inspiration and never fails to blend harmoniously with the voice.	r .
I shall be very happy to use and endorse the Baldwin in the future.
With my heartiest wishes for your continued success, I am , Most cordially yours,
(IhfîBalitorinÿiano (iorajimm
New York
San Francisco
Cincinnati	Chicago	St. Louis
Louisville	Indianapolis	Denver	Dallas
WILLIAM THORNER