The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-10
- W. }. ~HENDERsON.

musical organizations for the
season have been issued. The
concerts begin on TUESDAY eve
ming. They will end about the first
day Of May. Meanwhile there will be
much opera and the customary deiiica-
ton Of opera singers. whether there
IL . public sufficiently large and vio-
lently hungry to assimilate all mat IL
to be offered to 1t il n question which
only time and the box office OF Aeolian
and Carnegie halls can answer. Mean
while II may he well tn no;c tina a
larger field for selection lies open than
ever before.
No one is compelled to go to a con-
cert. Even when there is no war in
Europe and some Of the pianists. vio-
linists and lieder singers are busy on
the other side of the Atlantic the in
habitants of these United states are
invited to such large feasts of music
that they must pcrforce decide with
some care what they will take and
what they will omit. LAST winter saw
a staggering procession OF public per
formers Of music, n This season viii
be even more crowded. And still no
one Is compelled to 20 to IA concert.
There will he abundant opportunity
to sit at home and rest or go to tn"
movies" while the army OF music
makers fiaunts the challenge of its
myriad banners.
Many wise words will appear from
time to time in public prin,s. Much
stir will be made about the solemn
duty of bringing forth compositions
10y Americans, but little Of what is
said on this topic is quite To the point.
Tho music Of the American composer
should be played whenever /. Is good.
no matter whether there is n war in
Europe or not. 1t should ~ he played
when ii is not good. no matter how
sweetly the dove of peace COOS in the
Wilhelmstrasse.
On the other hand the preliminary
proclamations of some important musi-
cal organizations have told us tina: the
conductors have had all sorts of diff
culties in procuring novelties in Eu-
rope because of the war. Now rms,
does suggc that possibly II they
had omitted Europe from their cons,d-
erations and done n little earnest
searching at home they might with
out such eNhausting labor have found
something worth producing. Some
American works indeed are announced.
" remains TO he seen whether they
are not quite as much worth while
as inferior potboilers by European
composers.
Oper VIII be plentiful. True. the
metropolitan season is to be curtailcd
to twenty weeks in order thai the
Russians may show us their heels for
four weeks before We scatter for the
spring and summer. Bu, we shall. re-
joice in that on october - the Boston
opera Company will begin a season Of
TWO weeks at the Lexington Theatre.
which, rs antiquarians Will recall, W :
designed and built by oscar Hammer
stein to lie his latest rival to the
blighting broadway monopoly.
Bostonian opera is something Of
which this town is complacently ig-
norant. Its enlightenment may be
important. At any rate this opera is
10 have n ballet attachment with the
seductive Pavlowa as the star Of the
twinkling toe. Here we are on sur.
ground. We all know our l'aVlowa
and We can gD 10 the Lexington Thea
tire with light hearts. We are prom
ised some brilliant matters. such as
Gounod's Faust" with the Walpurgis
night scene. The ballet music is very
pretty n used to Ice heard in this
town when Rudolf Aronson conducted
Sunday night concerts at the Casino
There are still men living who heard
IN chan W. shall n1.A I. .-l 49,.
Auber's "Massaniello." Of which the
overture contains a good tune.
The prospectus Of the metropolitan
Opera House is not altogether rcas.
surfing. The absence of Mr.. TosCanin
will have an apprcciahle effect on tn,
season. but not such a great one as
the directors Of the metropolitan
Opera Company would have us he.
lieve. II was never good policy to in.
sist day in and day. u that Mr.. Tos,
canini was the one and MY gcnius al
the baton, that no performance no
conducted by him had artistic valu,
Of the highest order and that with hin
the truth must die. Sometimes cam
paigns of this sort of publicity br.n.
their W expensive results. .AS mat
ters stand to-day the Metropolitan APP
pears before its patrons in an apollo
Getic attitude. practically Cunfcssin.
that 1t has M first conductor and tina
IL cannot help il.
No reader OF the musical depart
ment OF THE STN needs to he old tina
admiration for the mastery conduct
ing OF Mr.. Toscanini was never want
ing here. But there Is no substantial
ground for believing that the per
formances OF the coming season wi
he lame and impotent because tn
maestro has become more interested Il
the singing Of the bullet than in tina
OF the prima donna. The opera hous
has for several seasons possessed il
Giorgio Polacco a thoroughly com
petent conductor. who will now in a
probability receive more OF the gen
eral attention due to his merits.
Mr.. Polacco has conducted in Rus
sia, in Spain, in England, in Scout
America. He is familiar with all tn
works hitherto conducted by Mr.. Tos
%canini. incs.d,nE those of the WAC
merriam repertory. which he frequent
directed, some of his achievement
here have been most admirable, no
tably his conducting of Julien hi
beautiful Interpretation of Butterfly
and "Boheme" and his fine presenta
ton OF Iris when MI. Toscanini wa
i'll. Mr.. PolaCCo is a man of fine cul
ture, a musician of mastery scholar
ship n a conductor of large an