Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-18

| lAbhlkf w Shl - recital last WedneS-
! day was the last but one Of Mr.. Ellis
season in Philadelphia, and, so far as
general announcements go. the last aft
ernoon recital we shall have. Such an
absurd situation. after the successes of
many artists here, calls for some con-
sideration.
Obviously the first thing to be said is
that financial success. and nothing but
financial success, counts in Philadelphia.
The reporter of music for the EVENING
LEDGER has, in two years, met with no
other considerations in regard to concert
giving in this city. In New York vast
number of concerts are financial failures.
but are success d'estime, and artists go
on. year after year. establishing them
selves in New York for repute in the
provinces. The same is true or Boston
and. in part. of Chicago. So far as We
know. il is true of no other city. although.
to be sure. a singer who proposed to
draw crowd in GallipO1is might find it
advantageous to get good notices in
Cleveland.
So that, apart from local and some
minor artists, our recital season must be
limited to those artists who ar assured
of houses We have been told that Fer
ruccio Busoni. on the occasion of a visit
here some years ago. played to half the
capacity. or less. of Witherspoon Hall be-
cause Mr.. Busoni is not Of the type of
artist who. by genius or eccentricty, is
largely advertised. But if even his as
tonishins merits claim so few of our suf-
frages, what can be said OF others We
remain in a Vicious circle of John Nc
Cormack. Mime. Schumaun-Heink, Kreis-
Ter and Paderewski. Last year We had
to be sure, Mines Homer and Gluck; this
year we had Farrar and Melba- But the
extension of our pleasures Is very, very
limited. We question very seriously
whether the concert field is sufficiently
exploited here. We have n suspicion that
Elman and Zimbalist and Amato and
some other great names would draw
heavily. But we should not undertake
to guarantee n success to Nine Julia
Culp. unquestionably the greatest lieder
singer now in America, nor for Leo Orn-
stein. nor for Mime. Leginska, nor for
Pablo Casals-the list is endless.
Does Philadelphia care? There seems
to be no way of finding out, unless more
adventures like that of Mr.. Ellis are
made. The musician finds himself COM
PEELED to travel 80 miles to hear certain
concerts. and finds many duh days which
could protitably be spent at the Academy
or elsewhere. Even the presence OF greas
artists with the orchestra does not lead
to overwhelming desire for their presence
alone.
As for the artists disrespect for Phila-
delphia opinion. The writer is ashamed
to tell the reason. II is not wholesome
to feel too unnecessary.
The editor makes rcgretful acknowl-
edguent of an error in his brief words on
Irving Berlin and ragtime of last week
1t was assumed with reservation for
faulty memory that Mr.. Berlin wrote
waiting For the Robert L. Lee" A
correspondent writes that Lewis Muir was
the composer and that Mr.. Muir died last |
week in New York. But why the same |
correspondent should feel that the men, |
ory of Mr. Muir was 'insulted' by group |
ing his name with Mr.. Berin's the editor /
cannot make out The lanEuorous, sem |
suous appeal of the song Is not precisely I
in Mr. Berlin's eCstatic vein. 1t is, none |
the less. in raEtime's best manner. and l
Mr. Berlin is chief exponent of that glory.
An interesting note from New York 1
musical paper: The unfortunate illness .
of Mmc. Zarslia has kept Tohengrin' out /
of the CMetropolitan's) repertoire" We .
had an idea that we heard il here two |
weeks ago. Can it be that the Metropol-
itan is spoofng us? OT-base thought
can it be that, after all, Mime. Rappold
wasn't quite right for the New York per
formauce2 G. V. S.
Verdi's "BaIIo in Maschera' will be
presented next Tuesday evening at the
Opera House by cast
which includes Caruso, Amato, Nine
Kurt and Mime. Duchcne Roth
ier. De SegurOla and Edith Mason fill
the minor roles.
In arranging the present season OF the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the Board of Di-
rectOrs of the association have felt il
wise to abandon the symphony concerts
on such holidays as Christmas Day and
Good Friday, the former out of defer
ence TO the popular feeling that Christ
mas is primarily home day. the lat
ter out of respect for the religious con-