Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-07
STOKOWSKI WOMEN
ORCHESTRA IDEA HAS
WARM SUPPORTERS
Only Tradition Blocks Way to
The Blooming of Feminine
Geniuses in Euterpe's Art,
Says Noted Pianist
AND MEMS COMFORT, TOO


In the language of the funny postcards
| Leopold Stokowskl started something
when he came out in favor of woman or
chestra leaders and feminine members of
the orchestra After listening to the views
| or some OF Phlladelphia's most eminent
| women musicians, the ordinary mortal Is
| inclined to agree with Mr.. StokowslS when
| he declares that tradition is cheating the
/ world OF Its women geniuses, and that
| there Is nothing but an absurd prejudice
TO prevent women from competing credta-
| bly, with such men as Messrs Thaddeus
/ Rich. Herman Sandby, Hans Kinder
| Hedda van den Beemt, Daniel Maruuarre
and the rest of them. They'll have to
watch their step, for woman's time is
coming.
The men have been leagued against
feminine progress for many years No
man wants to come home and find his
comfort has been sacrificed to his wifes
career So the male animal blocks the
path of art and puts out the claim of
| domesticity They have been keeping us
from learning our power too long"
This was the reply of Mrs. Mary HalloclS
Greenewalt, well.known pianist and suf.
fraglst, to the critics of the StokowslSt
article
II see no reason why we shouldn't have
an orchestra made up and directed by
L can easily understand why we do not
An orchestra is a luxury, and n most ex.
DensiVe one. There are only a few really
great orchestras in the United states
The small cities and towns cannot SUP.
port them The salaries are high and the
city has to pay them So It stands to
reason that If it is n question of giving
out sugar plums--the men get the prefer.
ence, that's ALL $50
Unfair? OF courses it's unfair, but I
think that men are frequently unfair
when 1t comes to a question of allowing
women perfect freedom No man wants
TO come home and find his comforts sac
riiced to some woman's career. They
therefore league together in Il traditional
ana entirely unjust tyranny which keeps
women domestic in spite of themselves
Why, we would be great artists but for
the unnatural and natural obstacles which
prevent trs from progressing.
Il don't mean by this that n woman
cannot have n happy marriage and a
career too, but 1t Is the exceptional
woman and the exceptional man who
makes such match. A single woman who
goes into grand opera for instance, has
many obstacles, expensive clothes to sup
ply, continuous travelling which under
mines her health. unpleasant and often
times fatal troubles with her manager,
and hundreds of little things which, Just
because they are little things keep tho
artist far in the background and the prac-
tical woman to the fore. A married woman
has less trouble If she knows how to
manage. Look at Madame Schumann-
Heink and Madame Homer. They have
large families. yet they are stars of the
first magnitude. They have their art and
their homes, too. But too many women
sacrifice their homes to their career, or
vice versa.
Now I am positive that hours a day
enough n IN
her music. This leaves plenty of time for
companionships, study, reading and pas
time. When you take into consideration
the hundreds of years which have elapsed,
and the very small minority of really
great men musicians and composers-a
mere handful of great nameS-you see
that given the handicap of domesticity,
women haven't failed They are doing
much. and will do more. We shall have
our great women composers and women
directors in time.
Felix Mendelssohn didn't write half
of the famous Songs without Words
which were published under his name,
They We're written by his sister, Fannie.
And he was so jealous of her that he was
extremely energetic in keeping her musl.
cal training at a standstill. That is what
the great mass of men are doing today
keeping their women away from a career
guarding their homes, for they fail to real
ize that the two are compatible. There
is an enormous waste of womanhood on
this account-an enormous waste of ge-
MUS"
Mrs Nina Prettyman Howell, the vic.
linst, agrees with Mr. StokOwski that |
women are eligible to the symphony or.
chostras.
''Why, when l was at the La Scala |
Theatre In Milan I saw a woman violinist |
playing in the orchestra. l asked the |
H., Oh I.
assured me that she wasn't. Women have |
as much recognition abroad as they lack |
over here. They have to qualify like the |
men for musical positions but they are |
given full chances TO qualify. There is |
no reason why women couldn't direct an |
opera, or anything else that man can |
direct In my opinion, women are |
stronger that men, they VIII bear up under |
a nervous strain longer than most men.
They come up to the occasion and en-
dure, because they know they must. It's |
simply the opportunity, and nothing else.
which keeps us from having great women |
musicians and composers"
Mrs. Edith Mahon, whose beautiful ac-
make the singers notes a
double pleasure. when she heard about
Mr.. Stokowskis statement. refused to
a physical handicap.
why, / can stand as much as any
man." she declared, "and many a time / |
have stood more than they do, L don't |
agree that women today are physically in
capable of actual labOr-and art is labor.
Fifty years ago we had no great women |
musicians, and, compared with the pres.
ent time, 1 should say the women of long
ago were hopeless. They were entirely |
and hopelessly a domestic type. The av-
erage man looked on them as housefraus,
and nothing more Do you wonder that
women have made no strides i'm the mu-
steal world? I'm perfectly sure that the
line to come will bring about great
changes; that we shall have great women
n every field of art"