13
MUSICAL COURIER
June 14, 1923
in the Herald regarding music week and festivals and suggested that Duluth join in with other cities in such celebrations. He and Mr. Flaaten met on the street one evening and discussed the matter. Mr. Flaaten suggested a festival and immediately worked out a program. The association was then formed ■and the work progressed rapidly and successfully.	J. B.
DULUTH’S FIRST MAY FESTIVAL
PAVES WAY FOR A GREATER ONE
Three Day Program Well Received by City—Movement Started for a New Auditorium—City Keenly Enthusiastic— James Watts and Gustav Flaaten, the Festival Founders, Praised for Their Productive Work
An Enthusiastic Welcome for Arthur Hackett
An enthusiastic welcome was given Arthur Hackett at the Mankato Festival, where he appeared May 16 and 17. For the first concert Mr. Hackett sang the incidental tenor solos of Cadman’s The Vision of Sir Launfal (words by James Russell Lowell) and two groups of French and English songs, closing with Mana Zucca’s effective Nichevo. The following day he took part in the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, revealing his well known characteristics of impeccable diction and fine musical understanding. Mr. Hackett has many friends in Mankato, gained through former appearances there, but he was forced to forego the pleasure of renewing acquaintances and to leave •immediately after the second concert for Northfield, where he was to sing the next day, after which he returned to Los Angeles for a second appearance there with the Oratorio Society, May 27. However, during his short stay in Mankato, Mr. Hackett had the opportunity to demonstrate to a few chosen friends his talents as a Negro imitator, in an improvised vaudeville performance he and Arthur Middleton gave the first night. For a serious artist, Mr. Hackett has his moments of lighter vein.
Southwick in Newark
On Sunday evening, May 20, Frederick Southwick, baritone, Orton J. Rose, organist, and Aimee Olson, contralto, rendered a musical service at the High Street Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J. Mr. Southwick has begun his fifth year as baritone soloist at this church.
MANAGEMENT: HAENSEL A JONES AEOLIAN HALL, NEW YORK
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Series Two
Schubert-Tausig, Military March ..................... $ .75
Gluck, Brahms, Gavotte ..................................50
Mendelssohn, Spinning Song ..............................60
Chopin, Valse in C-Sharp Minor...........................60
Chopin, Valse in E Minor ................................60
Schubert, Impromptu in F Minor ...................... 1.00
Schubert, Impromptu in G Major .................(In Press)
Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 15
Paganini-Liszt, La Caccia ....
Paganini-Liszt, La Campanella . . . .
Works
Three Little Pieces .................................. $ .75
1. The Mosquito. 2. In the Mountains. 3. Dance. Cadenzas to the C Major Concerto, Op. 15, of Beethoven ................................................ !,00
the Orpheum Concert Orchestra, who composed the music for the national anthem. The festival chorus sang the words. Mr. Michaud’s composition has been highly praised by the press and musicians here and elsewhere, and a movement will be started to have it approved by Congress.
Gallia, a motet, was rendered by the festival orchestra and chorus, under the direction of Lyman Ackley, and was greatly enjoyed. One of the best features of the entire festival was the appearance of Selim Palmgren, pianist-composer, head of the department of composition at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N. Y. Mr. Palmgren played a group of his own compositions—The Sea, Moonlight, Evening Whispers—all of which were very well received. He closed with the scherzo in B flat minor by Chopin.
Elizabeth Richardson, Duluth soprano, appeared as special vocal soloist, and Gustave Jackson, violinist, created a remarkably fine impression. Mr. Jackson is considered one of the best violinists in this part of the Northwest.
All of the programs were presented by the Duluth Music Festival Association. Those in charge are: President, James Watts, dramatic and music editor of The Evening Herald; business manager, George M. Peterson, secretary of the Duluth Retail Merchants’ Association; conductors, Gustave Jackson, Cecelia Ray Berry and Lyman Ackley. Alyda Flaaten, who did much faithful and efficient work for the festival and provided piano accompaniments for the festival orchestra, will be made a member of the association.
Mr. Watts and Mr. Flaaten may be called the founders of the festival. Mr. Watts had written a series of articles
Series One
Schubert-Ganz, Ballet Music from “Rosamunde”...... $ .60
Weber, Perpetual Motion .......................... 1.00
Liszt, Sonetto del Petrarca,	104.....................75
Liszt, Sonetto del Petrarca,	123.....................75
Liszt, Love Dream, No. 3.............................60
Liszt, Valse Oubliée ................!...............75
Bach, Fantasy in C Minor.............................60
Mendelssohn, Scherzo in E	Minor .....................60
Scarlatti, Sonata in A Major.........................60
Sibelius, Romance ....................................60
Original
Symphonic Variations on a Theme by Brahms, Op. 21.. $2.50 Two Concert Pieces, Op 29
1.	Adagietto ......................................75
2.	Scherzino ......................................75
Duluth, Minn., June 2.—Duluth's first May Music Festival is now a matter of musical history, in this city. Although there were many handicaps and many serious obstacles to overcome, the affair was a great success, and paved the way for greater festivals to come. The three-day
program was of such excellence that the whole city has been praising it and virtually all the best features will be repeated at the local theaters during the next month.
No sooner had the festival ended than musical people from all classes in the city expressed ■a desire to go to work at once on plans for a week’s festival next year, and an oratorio society has already been organized to promote musical activities and work for next year’s affair. This body consists of about fifty musicians, and officers will be elected at next week’s meeting.
The festival also started a definite movement for a new auditorium, as it showed Duluth how badly such a structure was needed for housing big musical affairs. It would provide a concert hall for festivals, concerts and recitals by great artists and orchestras, and also meetings of various sorts. A campaign will probably be organized during the coming year for raising funds and formulating plans.
First Night.
About 2,000 persons took part in the programs of the festival. The first night, May 22, was Choral Night, when a chorus of 120 voices, accompanied by the festival orchestra of eighty pieces, presented Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation, under the direction of Lyman Ackley, professor of vocal expression at the Flaaten Conservatory of Music. Burton Thatcher, bass-baritone, and George F. Plane, tenor of Chicago, and Perie Reynolds, a local soprano, sang the solo parts. The program was a fine artistic success, and the New Lyric Theater here will present the chorus next week and the orchestra on the following week, and other features later from week to week.
Second Night.
A Young Folks’ Concert was the second night’s feature, with 1,700 children from the Catholic public schools of Duluth taking part and accompanied by the festival orchestra and a galaxy of star soloists. Cecelia Ray Berry, supervisor of music in the Catholic public schools, was conductor in charge, and the orchestra was directed by Gustav Flaaten, president of the Flaaten Conservatory of Music. The children did remarkably fine work and Miss Berry was congratulated from all sides because of her capable and conscientious work in training the little folk. Mrs. Val-borg Gunderson, violinist, and Gustave Jackson, violinist, were soloists for the evening. Among other soloists and accompanists were Alecia Bice, Eleanor Moran, Euphemia Jack Miller, Margaret Kane, Ruth Dennis, Mrs. W. Kirkpatrick, Lucille Goetze, Lauretta Filiatrault, Emaline Brett, Alyda Flaaten, and A1 Howe.
Artists’ Night.
Artists’ Night, which closed the festival, was an event long to be remembered. The great festival orchestra, conducted by Gustav Flaaten, was featured, and the work of the director and the members equalled that of many large symphony orchestras that had received months of training. The big numbers from Lohengrin and Die Meister-singer were given an ovation and were a credit to the city. Mr. Flaaten had spent weeks organizing and rehearsing the musicians and he has offered Duluth the finest orchestra the city has ever had.
An original feature was America, played by the festival orchestra and conducted by D. J. Michaud, conductor of
Composers’ Music Corporation Wholesale	Retail
Fourteen East Forty-Eighth Street New York
The Rudolph Ganz Program Series
accompanist (photo by Johnson Studio Co.). (5) Cecelia Ray Berry, conductor of Young Folk's Concert (photo by Dworshak). (6) George M. Peterson, business manager of the Music Festival Association (photo by Dworshak).
(/) James Watts, president of the Duluth May Festival Association, and one of its founders. (2) Prof. Lyman Ackley, conductor of festival chorus (photo by Dworshak). (S) Gustav Flaaten, conductor in charge of the festival (photo by Johnson Studio Co.). (If) Alyda Flaaten, festival