NEW YORK, THURSDAY, May 31, 1923
j\\USICAL(ÖURIER
VOL. LXXXVI—No. 22 Whole No. 2251
ber was played, however, Mr. Stock led the orchestra in the choral and fugue by Bach-Albert and in Wagner’s Good Friday Spell, from Parsifal, while three selections from (Continued on page 34)
ANN ARBOR, MICH., HOLDS THIRTIETH
ANNUAL CONSECUTIVE MAY FESTIVAL
REPRESENTATIVES OF 2,000,000 WOMEN, MEETING IN ATLANTA, VOTE TO ANNIHILATE JAZZ
General Federation of Women’s Clubs, with Delegations from 40,000 Clubs in Attendance Pass Resolution to Attack Jazz Throughout the Country—Biennial Convention Proves Most Successful
Atlanta, Ga., May IS.—Among the many interesting resolutions passed by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, at the biennial in Atlanta which ended May 12, was a move to annihilate jazz in the United States. Delegations from forty thousand clubs representing two million members discussed and passed the resolution. Among the leaders of the crusade are Mrs. Basil Manley Boykin, president of the Atlanta Women’s Club; Mrs. Norman C. Sharpe, chairman of the state committee on citizenship, and Mrs. Alonzo Richardson, vice-president of the Atlanta Music Festival Association. The subject was summed up by one of the speakers as follows: “Jazz is having a bad effect on our girls and boys and on society in general. It must go and concerted action by the women’s clubs of America will wipe it out of existence. Let us furnish real music for our young folks—but no jazz.”
Among the interesting social affairs which made up a large part of the week devoted by the biennial council of the G. F. W. C. was the press banquet given on May 7 with Lessie Stringfellow Read of Fayetteville, Ark., editor of the Federation News, as the guest of honor and Mrs. McCord Roberts, Atlanta press chairman, as toastmaster. An appropriate musical program was rendered, by the Metropolitan Teather orchestra, directed by Buel B. Risinger, and seven pupils of Annie Mae Coleman, who gave a dance in costtime.
The second evening session of the Council was also enlivened by music under the supervision of Mrs. Charles Chalmers and Enrico Leide. Mrs. E. R. Hines led the singing of the glee club of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College of Milledge-ville. Mrs. E. E. Hoskinson of Evansville, Ind., who was sent, to Atlanta by the Chamber of Commerce of Evansville to sing the songs written by Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon in her pageant for Citizenship Day, was greeted with much enthusiasm. Her superb voice was heard to advantage in the oratorio style of these songs entitled A Song of Liberty and A Song of Columbia, Later, at the request of Mrs. Winter, national president of the G. F. W. C., Mrs. Hoskinson sang Home, Sweet Home. Mrs. W. O. Chears also sang a group by American composers.
Junior Music Club Pageant.
One of the most important musical affairs of the after-opera season was the pageant presented by 100 members of the Atlanta Junior Music Club under the direction of Evelyn Jackson. The small musicians acquitted themselves splendidly. Luella Everette, a talented musician and dancer, was Queen of the pageant and Lloyd Hatcher, who plays both piano and violin as well as sings, was King. Mary Grace Hogan and Kathleen Hogan, who are pupils of Mrs. William Claei; Spiker, were seen in dance interpretations and Jaqueline Moore and her harp were very much enjoyed.
The Junior Music Club is busy with plans for the convention to be held June 8 and 9. Evelyn Moore, chairman of the South Atlantic district of the Federation of Music Study Clubs and director of Junior clubs for Georgia, will preside over this meeting assisted by Mamie Laura Moore of Cordele, Ga., assistant director for Georgia. There will be delegations from each of the four States making up the South Atlantic District. Florida will be represented by an entire orchestra and chorus from Jacksonville, as well as smaller delegations from other cities. Four or five hundred children musicians are expected to be present. One of the features on the program will be a cello contest between Georgia and South Carolina. The first night will be devoted to a contest between interstate ex-winners and the second night will be devoted to contests to decide this year’s winners.
Pupils’ Recitals and Notes of Interest.
Kathryn Loftin Donald presented four of her younger pupils in recital at the U. S. Veterans’ Hospital No. 48. They were Zoe Wells, Jane Green, Vella Marie Behm and Frances Guyton.
The usual meeting of the Parent-Teacher’s Association of Grayson School was marked by a splendid program in (Continued on page 29)
This Event Also Marks the Closing of the Forty-fourth Annual Choral Union Concert Series—Gustav Holst and His Music Make Profound Impression—Prominent Soloists Heard—All-American Cast for Samson and Delilah
and that with two exceptions the singers were all leaders from the Metropolitan or Chicago Opera companies.
First Concert.
The festival opened Wednesday night with Goldmark^ march from The Queen of Sheba and closed with Wagner’s chorale, Awake, and choral finale from Die Meistersinger. In both works the Choral Union did itself proud and showed that it had been excellently trained under Mr; Moore’s tutelage. In addition to the Beni Mora suite which Mr. Holst conducted, the orchestra under Mr. Stock played Franck’s
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Edwin F. Townsend Photo	LUELLA MELUIS,
American coloratura soprano, just completing a busy concert season here. Mine. Meluis will spend the winter of 1923-2J in Europe and is under contract to appear as guest in opera in leading cities of Spain, France, Italy, the countries of Central Europe, and Sweden. Besides this she will sing in concert in most of these countries, also in England. She will return to America in March, 1921!, for the spring concert season for which she is already extensively booked.
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symphony in D minor and gave a splendid reading of this beautiful work. Interspersed with these numbers were vocal numbers sung by Beniamino Gigli, who offered first an aria from Cielo e mar, from La Gioconda, Ponchielli, then Le Roi d’Ys, Lalo, and finally Flotow’s aria M’appari, from Martha. This tenor in his Ann Arbor debut won a host of friends and was recalled many times and after each number was obliged to offer encores. He possesses a remarkable voice of great beauty which he handles with artistic ease. His presence is also gracious. He is an ideal festival singer, and seemed to enjoy carrying happiness and pleasure to his vast audience as much as they were pleased to receive it. He is a marvelously complete technician, an artist whose voice is produced with ease and accuracy and he is a lyric tenor of amazing beauty and resource. He has not that robust volume which was the surmounting characteristic of Caruso, nor is there any reason why he should reach after it. His own virtues—tone, control, expression and power beyond the usual—are sufficient to make him great.
Second Concert.
The second concert Thursday evening had several high spots. In this program Mr. Holst presented the Hymn of Jesus and it was uproariously received. Before this num-
Ann Arbor, Mich., May 24.— (Special to the Musical Courier.)—The thirtieth annual consecutive May Festival given under the auspices of the Ann Arbor University School of Music took place in Hill Auditorium during the four days ending May 19. Four evening programs were given and two afternoon concerts. The occasion was one worthy of marking the three-decade milestone in its history. Hill Auditorium was packed for every performance and the aggregate attendance was about thirty thousand.
While the festival was the thirtieth, its programs also marked the closing of the forty-fourth annual Choral Union Concert Series given under the auspices of the University School of Music. The Ann Arbor Festival stands out each year as an occasion of great importance, but ¡j this year’s programs somehow seem to	g|
have provided a renewed appeal, and mu-	g
sic lovers from far and near were in a jj happy and expectant frame of mind, ap- ¡j pàrently anticipating a treat more pleasant g even than those of past seasons. One year	j¡
ago the festival was carried on for the	g
fifst time without the guiding hand of Dr.	¡j
Albert A. Stanley, and there were those	g
who apparently had their doubts as to	g
whether the event could be successful	g
without the presence of its distinguished	g
founder. Last year’s success, however, was	g
stjch as to assure one and all that Dr.	g
Stanley had trained up a corps of assist-	g
ants on such a plane that without his pres-	g
ehce the institution could be carried on	g
along the lines adhered to so rigidly for	g
so many years. Dr. Stanley’s great musi-	g
cianship found expression through the ac-	g
tivity of his assistant and associate of	g
many years, Earl Vincent Moore, who,	g
since the retirement of the veteran con-	j¡
ductor, has served as acting conductor. In	g
collaboration with Frederick Stock, pro-	g
grams of wide interest, great variety and	g
of fundamental musical worth were pre-	¡j
pared, and the University Choral Union	g
of 350 voices under Mr. Moore’s direction	g
rose to the occasion and maintained a	g
standard which was a great credit to its jj past history.	g
The weather man was even interested g and the traditional rain or even snow of g past seasons was restrained. The sun g shone brightly and added to the gala occa- g sion.	g
Gustav Holst and His Music Make ¡j Profound Impression.	s
The programs themselves were ex- g tremely interesting, following in the main	g
those of past years, but much that was g different was introduced. First of all an g eminent British composer-conductor was g transported from London to present the g American première of a notable work. g Gustav Holst led the Chicago Orchestra g and the Choral Union in a masterful pre- g sentation of his own Hymn of Jesus. Mr. g Holst also conducted some of his other g works, Dirge for Two Veterans,^ written g for male voices, an Orientale Suite, Beni g Mora, for orchestra and a suite from his g opera, The Perfect Fool, which was given j¡ its initial performance at the Royal Opera	g
House in London only a few weeks ago.
Mr. Holst and his music made a pro- g found impression. His work represented g one of the high spots in the festival. He g proved himself to be a master conductor g and showed conclusively that he _ under- s stands the values of each choir. His read- g ings are authentic and sure and he con- p ducts with poise, dignity and a freedom m from spectacular mannerisms so tempting_ to many leaders. His works are modern in content and he shows in his compositions a tendency to employ different groups of the orchestra to bring about results rather than continually using the entire ensemble. His orchestra selections were exceedingly well received and he was recalled many times. His Dirge is unique in character and shows the composer in a fertile frame of mind. His great work, however, was the Hymn of Jesus, which is well thought out, full of musical meat and abounding in interesting and beautiful passages. It is modern in character, but not superlatively so. It is rather difficult from the performer’s point of view and for the listener. It is of a type which will attract greater interest from repeated hearings. Altogether the University School of Music did a most creditable thing in bringing Mr. Holst to this country and in presenting him to the public first-hand in his great writings. _ It demonstrated the progressiveness of Ann Arbor’s musical management and indicated that despite Dr. Stanley’s absence the organization is fully capable of continuing to do things worthily.
Soloists All Stars.
Other interesting features were that for the first time a great violinist and pianist were heard, that with few exceptions all of the vocal stars were new to Ann Arbor,