Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-03
ORCHESTRA REACHES
GREATEST HEIGHT
k IN MAHLER'S WORK
First Production in America of
Eighth Symphony Clamor-
ously Received--More Than
1000 Take Part

s A, ,be Academy of Music last night. for
az erat time in America, the Eighth sym
4 tho ubonv Of Gustav Mahler. The Philadelpnhia ma
4 pbnlOohbssetro pnOhbs augmented to 10 players the
/ Phllass Phlladseipbbiya by Mr.. stokowsiii; the second
tr,,s Ita of 400 trained by Henry Gordon
Thunder and recruited d. fr9 rT9nndsiesobn t9e Cnb
pnd the Fortnightly club. a chII1rSn
chorus Of 1850. soloists; Florence ,lIs., HlnkIle,
cnyvrronos Inez Barbour, sopranoi Adelaide
5S4prbaT. soprano Margaret Keyes, CON
trsito; susanna Dercum, contraltoi Lam
bert Murphy tenor ii,,Ih'tea, helnniu tnsqd Nt'on @
bSGtSr. sSrisqn'L Leopold stotowski. Part based
on the Part Part II on the Scene Of the An.
ssborItss at the end Of Goethe's Second
Faust.
snIendor and magniflcence and the red
awe of success were over the Academy
I've Nf,e,c last night at the end of the first
.a.sor,nance VI in America of Gustave NAH
20 eighth symphony, The laurel wreath
AZ ,,ornetual bronze which was given to
AZ ~, stolo,yslSi could but fall short of
N,,,hol,ziuR the vital thrill of joy which
Id been communicated to the three
.Lousand and more fortunate auditors Of
~ ,,or, for an hour and half before,
snent and conquering, Mr.. Stokowski laid
down his baton. The clamorous en-
,buaiasm of the audience and of the three
oreat choruses which had taken part, was
n,,,on,orable and moving. Almost as much
as the symphony itself the final cIrcum-
stances contributed to the overwhelming
toijritv of the occasion. Whatever else
NAV he said, and much must be said.
,ho enrircling halo of glory cannot be
removed from the head of any individual
who participated In the work. The vis-
ible growth in artistic stature Of the or
chestra and of its conductor are hardly
comparable to the impulse and impetus
eiven to artistic achievement in Phila-
delpha.
The public has been informed of the
manifold difficulties which had to be over
come before the symphony came to pro-
duction The least that can be said is
that they left no furrowed brow, no hard
ened heart behind them The production,
In facility, in ease, in the generous sweep
Of self-sacrificing endeavor, was faultleSs
Behind orchestra and soloists there rose
tier on tier of indistinguishable heads,
mysteriously fringed in white and black
and these tiers rose and receded in re-
sponse to mystic beckonings in waves as
rhythmic as music. So the symphony, in
IT'S physical accoutrements was mounted in
beauty, and to that beauty each access
sorry paid its due. down to the bizarre
trumpets in the high boxes which blew,
over the heads of the multitude, the last
brazen sounds of eXultaton and magnif-
cence
Considerations and perplexities posi-
lively press in on the consciousness of the
reviewer who sets out, perforce, to record
Judgment of the work. Yet before they
assert themselves some things must be
said. In insignificant agate have been set
forth the names of those, of a small num-
ber of those, who gave their labor that
this symphony might be produced. 1t is
hardly necessary in this place to mention
each with a need of praise In groups
one may speak of the choruses, splendidly
willing and capable or the soloists, each.
irrevOcably dedicated to a fine artistic
purpose; finally of the orchestra, which
rose to the climax of its career under the
Inspiration of the very difficulties which
lowered and waylaid it, But there is no
group in which Mr.. Stokowsld belongs.
For him something especial and apart
must be, said. Beset by fears and doubts,
dominating the thousand who were es-
sential to his success, brushing aside with
an fmpetuous and tyrannic will the i'm
possibilities before him, Mr.. Stokowsld
accomplished nothing more laboTious,
nothing more noble. than his conquest of
himself. His character and his aptitudes
are well known to u.s. One sees at once
how mere magnitude could have appealed
to him in this work and how the melo-
drama of music might have found in him |
an interpreter He is conductor who
works, by the natural swing of his tenn
perament and by the indulgence which |
sheer brilllance has won for him. In the |
great lines. The splendid gesture counts |
with him. His spirit is, or would be. as
Titanic, as Napoleonic as that of Mailer |
himself, Yet In the long year which came !
before this performance Mr.. Stokowski |
gave himself over to the slightest and the |
meanest of detail. He studied rehearsed, |
each separate part of the work, |
foregoing the grand manner, hardening |
himself against every seduction of trick |
cry driving out every temptation. He is |
young and fervent and successful. This |
once, in a crisis not to be questioned he |
set himself untold limitations, and within |
those limitations he was superb. Mr.. Sto- |
kowski has done much for the orchestra
he has saved himself. And 1t is sincerity to
be hoped that he relishes, down to the last
glowing detail, his triumph.
THE SYMPHONY ITSELF.
SO much more was the spontaneous
success of the symphony surprising be-
cause In many senses, 1t is neither a |
great nor a popular work. Maugre
analyses of II part writing, maugre the
OF the mystic chorus at the |
ehu which Mahler himself struggled vainly |
70 elucldate, the audience which rose and |
shouted was impressed not so much by |
music as by magnitude, not with style but |
W.T. Mlln the stupendous energy of the whole. |
~ was excited more than exalted, stirred |
Istner than moved. Presently the words |
sns snsii be said which must be of Mahler's |
sauuened and outraged spirit of the |
searhlng and intensity, the power and the |
passion which made him great. But now |
ihay one not involve the shade of the dear |
ueaI .ss composer of Bonn. the great heart |
saal put all the worlds madness and |
sns,y ssioIy into the beating strings of a single |
ee'io, and ask what has been said that |
ne mad not said before?
Is impossible TO translate away the
,hneaihs OF the ancient hymn OF Hra-
stHl SsIus Maurus, who fiourished as arch
,palshop Of Mayence in the 9Th century. |
Ms Me- one doubt what he meant. what
btaahier b,er means with "Aeeende Iumen sensl-
puA tnfunde amorapo oordibnsn0 nba