The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-09
Theatrical World Dope
Lampert Put
Rag-Time Out
Of Business
Accomplishment on Chautauqua
Ctrcuit-""humann Quintet
n Big Success.

Big Success.
That the Schuman quintet. which
Wesley college conservatory fon
chautauqua concert work. was a big
success is evidenced by the following
from the November issue of Lyceum.
lite and Talent:
They didn't know it couldn't he
done. SO they went ahead and did it,
was h comment of the manager aft
er the concert of The Schumann quin-
tet at Winona Lake. IF Lampert had
come to me in advance and told me
what he was going to do. l would
have told him he never could pull it
over"
The manager had a right to say
sicians in trying to put over" clas-
steal music before the popular crowd
have been Particularly disastrous.
They were mighty fine musicians hut
they played over the heads of the
people. Only a few of our audience
could appreciate it,"
How often you hear the committee
say that. And the musicians want to
get return dates because their rent
ZONES due real often.
Let us see what Lampert did.
Five musicians calne out on the
stage in powdered wigs and costumes
Of another age. This was interesting
but only incidental. There were w
violins, a cello. an organ and a pi-
ano. No fireworks. no traps. no horse
play Of any kind to catch a crowd.
My friends. we have come to play
you classical music. I have often
been told that people do not like elias.
steal music. but I have felt that if
that he true. there is something wrong
with the people or with the great mas
tiers who wrote it. The masters wrote
their soul into the music and l don't
believe there is anything wrong with
the people"
That is the way he began.
Now the piece we are going to
play for you is a picture Of a forest.
The composer Went out into a forest
and sat down beside a mountain brook
that came pouring over the rocks.
Listen and you will hear the brook
all through the piece like this"
And the pianist played the little
three-four melody of the brook in its
fall.
Then he heard many birds singing
in the trees, heard the rustic of the
breezes and the other sounds of the
forest. He wrote 1t down in music.
and now we are going to play what
he wrote and we want you to see the
picture and hear what he heard"
The audience was already interest
sicians. played. the hearers listened
and their ears became eyes. People
who thought they did not understand
and could not like music discovered
the brook. heard the birds sing. heard
the forest breezes. saw themselves out
in the forest, saw all the picture. Mu.
sic now had a new meaning to them.
They were happy to know they liked
that kind Of music.
Rarely does an audience listen to
musicians as that audience listened.
A great cheer came at the close.
Lampert smiled and rubbed his
hands: There, I know you would
like classical music. Now we are go.
ing to play a piece that musicians say
no n in an audience likes, because
it is too technical"
He went on describing the piece,
then played it. It Wal heavy. II
would have had little appeal to an au.
dience as ordinarily presented. But
this Winona audience listened with
keen interest. because 1t was listening
in%telligently and 1t was listening to
musicians who love their work. An.
other cheer marked the close and
there were encores.
1t was not because the winona au.
dience was high in the scale of INTEL
many musicians. Last summer the
reception was the same in the chau.
tauqua tents. When Lampert played
this piece before a north Wisconsin
audience at a chautauqua, he said:
There. you liked that better than rag
time. didn't you?"
And a big-booted "lumber jack" on
the front row shouted: you betcher
life we did,"
The Schumann concert was one Of
the unusual successes Of the Winona's
season and Of the entire c%hautauoua
season.
Carl Lampert and his men deserve
all this publicity. They are brave:
they have sounded a new note. have
pointed the way, have given encour.
a2ement.
The people do like good things. The
people have a hunger for food. They
don't know 1t themselves and must
have it discovered for them. They
plunge into the frivolous and the
frothy and find little solace there: 1t
Is only dope. not food. Along comes
somebody with food and they enthuse
n say: That is what l have always
been wanting"
But again to Lampert: He is an ar.
fist. his men are artists. They play
with their souls. not with their fingers.
They play %reverently. And Lampert
loves his audience as well as his mu-
sic. He treats his audience as though
It were a few close friends he had
invited to his room to share his
Christmas candy. He is neither pref
~ nor graceful. but far more impor-
tant, he is sympathetic and sincere.
There is permanent employment
for a hundred such as he in the ly-
ceum and chautauqua. They are
coming. They bring "A great hope.
Murray!
Great music has failed. Where it
has failed. because ii needed great
people to present it in a great way.
properly staged. "
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