Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-29
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment ON Tb;,n.
cal " Discriminating ''''
PhiIadeiphia

operatic stars cannot have 10 the
very nuch, because as IL was evap USED
fore the war, the great sireoen eDen be.
pretty nearly everything tberne tn got
get, except the opera house bu;ia;t TGS 70
However, there is good reason sor A..
advance IN the salaries paid to ora, Nv, .ne
trai players, beyond the fact tbat bt"es. e
eoss OF nving has SO increased as 'se .e
,hake u impossible for them to live 40 70
,ne salaries formerly given them. Tb;ua
by the law of supply and demaSd da.ed u
FOR the last few years the demana ano ul
capable orchestra men has far oycoodos
the supply. 'A'eeued
Ihis IL due to two things: first N.
great number of new orchestras wb;"s i"s
have been established in the lood;unu
critics OF the United States, and seconas
that the supply of orchestra nloyos,
from Europe, which for years furn;shos
this country with a large maioritv :,
the men. has been cut off for nearly 81,
years. OLA
THE first of these reasons is n pooa
u one. and 1t is to be hoped that I,
will continue. The present administra.
''Vh hV Wien IL declared
music to be among the essential indus.
tries, IL industry IL can be called Tbs
yearly increasing interest felt in music
| not as an art nor as pastime. but as
vital element in our social life, is one
of the most encouraging signs Of our
national progress.
The cost of a great orchestra is natu.
rally very large. It Is no small matter
to engage the exclusive services of
| from seventy to 100 men, most of whom
have spent many years in time and large
sums of money on their musical educa.
tions. But this is just what has to bs
done il the projectors Of an orchestra
hope to have a body worthy the name.
| So much time must be spent in re-
hearsal that the organization must have
control of the men whenever they are
required.
( This is all the more true IL the or.
chestra hopes to keep its patrons in
formed as to what is being done by the
modern composers. These compositions
are generally extremely difficult. be-
cause to Judge from some scores which
the writer has seen, the composer Of to.
day evidently does not feel he has to
know what the various instruments can
do, in order to write for them. IT, for
example, he wants the oboe quality Of
tone three or four notes above the com.
PASS of that instrument, he simply
writes them and leaves the unfortunate
orchestral player to solve the problem
as best he may. and fearful and wonder.
full are many of the solutions.
The second reason. that the supply
of European players has been for time
| an ,o also q Unnd that ~
gives the American orchestral performer
a chance such as he never had before.
| Before the war most of the conductors
would accept the foreign player without
question over the home grown product.
| Now. and for the last few years, they
have been obliged to accept the Amcri-
can players to complete the roster OF
their organizations.
| And yet, the conductors cannot be
severely blamed for their attitude. Or
chestral playing in Europe is one of the
recognized professions and has been for
many years here it is Of comparatively
recent growth. Therefore. the foreign
player came to this country with ira
dition and generally an experience be-
hind him, which the American Seldom
had. Technically and spiritually he
might be far the inferior of the Ameri-
can player, but he had the routine which
is necessary, and, generally, it must be
admitted, he was the better man for the
orchestra.
But here the adaptability of the
| American asserted itself. Routine can
be attained only by practice, and the
American assimilates things far more
speedily and almost as thoroughly as
| the average foreigner. The result has
been that the last few years have shown
an amazing increase of American or
chestra players of the first rank. The
PHILADELPHIA Orchestra was among the
very first to encourage American play
ers. and this policy has been continued.
and the orchestra stands today as the
best in the country.
TT CANNOT be denied, however, that
i in the great solo instruments of the
orchestra. especially in the wood winds,
the foreign player is still ahead. This
is not due to the personality nor the
potentia! ability of the men themselves.
but simply to the fact that students
abroad are not allowed to play publicly
until they are entirely capable OF DOING
it well.
The writer once asked one Of the
finest wood wind soloists of the Phila'
delphia Orchestra about young man
who was studying with him, 'oh,
said the artist. 'he ism t studying any
more. He took about ten lessons ana
thcn got n lob in an orchestral Fur
ther inouiry developed the fact that the
teacher himself had spent more than ten
wears in hard study of his instrumeh.
before he was considered capable OF
| bnId;n0 nm orchestral place.
This sort of thing carries ITS own
pcnalty. The pupil who takes rev
lessons and then tries to play music as
vet far beyond him will never rise very
high. The one of whom his whlCm
master smoke will never be able to uEe
anything like the place occupied by nts
teacher. This is the main trouble WIN
American players. They are not lhot
ough enough and are too impatien' u
get to work.
IDHILADELPHIA is to have ano'ne'
i obportunity at early summer opera
and II is to be hoped that the attenu'
onco will Justify the visit OF the co'n'
pany. ,,,orr orc all
excellent, although there are no C9TnSo. CMIs
ar Matzcnauers among them i",.o
NAV be some potential stars, however,
Therefore. it will be good chance ID
try out the pcrniciouS star system system, "To ~
500 whether philadclphians wan, "
hoar compositions or singers. rus
Snnsop opera has been offered mere w
fore. but the results have not pe1n peirt
couraging from "A financial stanuPJh'ms hors
The Scott Opera Company was Scooth
Iast year. with such singers as SGoIu wooi
himself. Florence Easton, FranrlS FrIIiIIS pirco pS