The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-02

From the Literary Digest.
 N .incomprehensible blunder" IS A being made in our exclusion oi 4 x women from symphony orches- tras, in the opinion of one of our leading orchestra conductors, MT. Leopold Sto- kowski His verdict is based on recog- milton of the peculiar capacities of women for this field of work. "The particular spirit that women put into music, thelr kind of enthusiasm, their devotion to any thing they undertake. would be invalua- ble in the formation of symphony orches- tras. In addition to their delight in their work they are quick to get the meaning of a score, nimble-witted in tax ing in a new idea, and most conscientious about appointments, time, and practice. In the Craftsman (March) this tribute to women's adaptability to a new sphere is thus elaborated:
 "When I think of women as l sec them in the musical world, what they are capable of doing, their fine spirit, excel lent technique, I realize what splendid power we are letting go to waste in thls country, and in other countries, too What poor economy it is to take 1t for granted that women are not ready to en- ter the world of art, are not capable ot becoring fluent channels for the express sion of genius. We are deliberately shut ting away great forces for beauty and progress by leaving women out of our scheme of things in the art world. We are sacrificing accomplishment to tradi- tion; for the sake of not making the eff fort of opening our spiritual eyes we are leaving unused a power of achievement as great, it seems to me, as the electricity | in the clouds which we have not yet 1 learned to bring into our homes to help us live our lives more easily and com | fortably.
 You ask me if women will become con- | ductors of orchestras. Who knows? That is a matter of physical endurance as we'll as spiritual insight. I doub. very much if you could even take any well framed soldier in excellent physical con- | uiuon and put him through three hours of such exertion as conducting the Wal kure without laying down the baton at the end of the opera in a state of physi- cal exhaustion. There is an immense amount of physical energy essential for good conducting. And then, if you add 1 the intense nerve strain and the mental | strain, I doubt very much indeed if women, trained as they are today physi- cally, could manage an entire opera
 l In the same article MT. stowOwski makes some interesting comparisons he- tween the catholicity of taste in American and European audiences. He is peculiarly
 fitted for this task, as he is a Pole. born
 in London, who lived chiefly there and in l Paris before coming to our shores. 4 fact of great importance. he finds, is the | Universal quality of the American audi ence's appreciation of music
 This cannot be said of any other peo- ple The American audience is enthusi- astic for everything that is good and worth while in music. In France for l-
 stance, the French people demand all of l the very best French music and the
 classical music from Germany; Reetho-
 ven and Bach are greatly appreciated
 i but Strauss and Mahler, Iseger ano
 Schonberg are but little playcl We can
 reverse this statement exactly for Ger
 many and Austria. Naturally. there all
 the great music of their own countliei