The Washington times., 1904-04-17
THE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

To the Editor Of The Washington Times;
Your attitude toward every enterprise
which has for its object the elevation
and betterment OF local conditions has
always been so liberal and encouragin
that / feel at liberty to ask you, in the
interest of all the music lovers and
students of Washington. to print this
letter in its entirety in your valued
columns. have set forth conditions as
they existed and as they are today. and
| sincerely trust that those of your read
ers who have the real interest of the
musical development Of Washington at
heart. will carefully consider my state
meuts and realize how important il Is
that the Washington Symphony Or
chestra should continue the work which
it has so splendidly accomplished thus
far
Just a year ago you were kind enough
to give me space for a similar communal
cation. In that letter ! spoke freely of
the status Of the Washington symphony
Orchestra and made an earnest appeal
to music loving and public spirited citi-
Zens OF the District to come forward
with subscriptions to the guarantee fund
necessary to maintain the orchestra an
other year ! stated that the loss for
the season 1923 had been borne by a
few ladies and gentlemen, and that the
orchestra should not continue unless
there should be liberal public recognition,
as those who had contributed so freely
could not be expected to bear the entire
burden another year.
The result OF this appeal was quite
encouraging, for the list of guarantors
was increased from Is TO 60 single con-
tTibutionS ranging from 81 10 Sl,650. The
new pledges. together with the amount
not used from the original guarantee
fund, provided US with ample capital tC
give Washington another season Of or
chestral music On the 18th of this
month we gave the last con
cert of our regular symphony series
season 1901. and again VIC find our
selves confronted by the vital question
OF finances, without which the orche5
ira cannot exist further.
Under date of March Is. we published
Ia our fourth symphony concert program
an open letter, asking for aid. This
letter / signed for a committee com
posed OF the following ladies and gen
tIemen: Mrs. Henry MAY, Mrs. IL. c
Perkins. Mrs J. f. Reyburn, Mrs. Her
bert Wadsworth, the Hon. Butler Ames
L. s. House of Representative; Wood
bury Blair, r H. Droop, tho Hon. S. b
Elkins, L. s. Senate; William Bruce
King, the Hon. II. c. Lodge, L. s. Sen
ate; the Hon. n. LOngwOTth. L. S
| House, Of Representatives; the Hon. Gift
| ford PFchot. NJ G. Seckendorn, DR.
Charles Shepard. the Rev. d. J. Stat
| ford. Eugene +. Stevens. the Hon
Thomas F. Walsh. the Hon. n. l.. West
| Commissioner for the District of Co
lumbia; Elliott Woods. L. s. Capitol.
wish particularly 10 call attention
10 the representative character of this
committee, and, furthermore to state
that this is the first time in its his
tory that the success Of the orchestra
has appealed TO the general public
sufficiently 10 form a committee for its
support and continuance. II might be
well to state here that our first con
cert was given in April, 1902, and II was
| followed by five concerts during Tho
season Of 1923 We also gave one pop
ular concert, which met with unquali-
fed success. Our total net losses last
season amounted to 1880. AT the
given five regular Friday Afternoon
Cncerts. the orchestra viii have appear
ed three times with the Choral Society
once with the Carroll Institute Choir
and eleven popular Sunday night con
certs will have been giVen-in all, TWEEN
" appearances OF the orchestra for
one season before the Washington pub-
lie, and all this with "A deficit that ]
think from present indications will fail
a tri1e below that OF last year.
In the letter which you so kindly
printed for me last year, / said: IT
is our firm belief that with another sea