New-York tribune., 1920-06-06

tuition. His composition is entitled
prelude to The Trojan Women" and
was inspired, we believe, by Mr.. Gran
vile barker's production of the trag-
edy by Eurjpides.
Prelude to "The Trojan Women"
After three hearings of the work
(two at rehearsaD we are, to nut it
frankly, somewhat at loss as to how
to estimate it. The fault is, perhans.
largely due to a wider divergence in
the opinion of the composer and his
reviewers as to the kind of musical
material offered by the Euripidean
poem. Drama "The Trojan Women"
can scarcely be called 1t is rather
what Dean Milman called it: "A series
OF pathetic speeches and exquisite
odes on the fall of Troy" Mr.. Hill.
we fancy, conceived his piece as a.
musical commentary on the sack of the
Homerlc picture. 1t is a delineation
OF war with its consequent dcstruc-
tion and desolation of matter and of
mind; its suffering, horrors and woe.
10 us the poem suggested magnificent
opportunities for characteristic instru-
mental lyricism: moral and intellectual
proclamations; hymnngs of the
strongly contrasted souls of the great
women whom the Greek triumph hand
ed over to ignominious slavery
Hecuba, whose ceaseless lamentation
over the fate of Priam's proud city is
the voice of the city itself, wrathful,
hopeless, impotent. Andromache, be-
wailing her individual sorrows. the
death of Hector, the almost sacrifcial
remuneration of her child, whose death
was commanded by the Greeks lest in
manhood he should wreak vengeance
upon them; stricken to submission to
fate. Contrasted with these-and what
a ast!-the frenzied hymeneal
hymn of Cassandra, apostrophizing the
torches which are to light her to the
bed of Agamemnon; the seeress, mad
dened by Apollo and, for moment, los
ing herself in the woman dreaming of
murderous>vengeance. This, with the
chorus of lamentation rising and fall
ing from beginning to end, the Trojan
element; and again the Greek Helen,
with plea Of justification and the su-
perhuman charm of her beauty, turn
ing the wrath and threatened VEN
geance of Menelaus into dubiosity and
impotency.
Surely music, even wordless music.
might have celebrated utterances and
moods so pregnant and appealing. But
to do this would require melodies satu-
rated with instincts, emotions, pas
sions; large melodies, melodies of an
tique heroic mold, parallels of those in
the Euripidean lines. Mr.. Hill does not
give us these. He builds on brief mo-
tivi and themes, and for expression re-
lies on ingenious interming1ing of har-
monies, frequently lacerating in their
polgnancy, rhythms and instrumental
dyes. His architecture is solid. noble.
His fabric clear. He constructs stir
ring climaxes, beginning in the depths
and returning again to the depths when
he has proclaimed wars horrors. He
woos the ear but seldom, and his color
scheme, when once he begins the de-
velopment of his material, is frequent
ly glaring, even harsh. Like Shake
speare's Cassandra, he "shrills" forth
bis dolors. He makes us think more
Of Verdun than of divine Troy. But
his music bites into the imagination and
souls of his hearers, for it is eloquently
proclamant of stark desolation and
woe, and though his thought NAV be
melodically tenuous, it is fluent and
nobly sustained. We could wish for a
better acquaintance with it. even
though the wish compels US to pardon
some Stravinskyish idioms for which we
find it impossible to cherish affection.
The piece was finely played under
the capable direction of a young con-
ductor, Mr.. Chalmers Clifton, who has
studied with obviously admirable re-
suits in Harvard, i'm Boston with Mr..
Loeffer and in Paris with M. Vincent
dlndy and both the Schola Cantorum
and the Conservatoire. He has of late
been conducting Mr.. Gallo's opera COM
pany, we believe.
With these two incidents the special
interest which the festival held for
the professional visitors from New
York were practically exhausted For
the others, especially the friends Of
the choristcrs who form the audiences
at all the affairs (there being no paid
for admissions) there was much else.
however, that was entertaining and in
structive. On the first evening Gou-
mods Redemption" was performed
under the direction of Arthur Mees.
ths conductor Of the Litchfeld County
Choral Union, and with the same quar-
tot OF singers that cared for the solos
In Dr. Parker's oratoro. A good per-
formance did not save the work from
monotony Of effect. and its sacchnrine,
sentimental religiosi.y made much of
IT sound mawkish and trivial. Viror-
Gus abbreviation with meat axe would
have bettcred 1t. Nine. Fricda Hem.