New-York tribune., 1920-11-19
Hadley Directs
Philharmonic
Society Band
His Selection as Assistant
Conductor Recalls Long
List of Notables Who
Have Handled Orchestra
Damrosch Among Them
Victor Herbert Mentioned:
Concert in Carnegie Hall
Yesterday a Musical Gem
By II. r. krebh;el

Mr.. Henry Hadley directed the or
chestra of the Philharmonic Society at
concert given in Carnegie Hall and
VIII be at the head of the band again
IN the same room this afternoon. His
offcial title is associate conductor of
the society and he will relieve Mr..
Stransky at two more concerts in Feb
ruary. 1t is new Office. though there
was period of several years duration
half century ago when two men al
ternated in the dictatorship.
They were Theodore Eisfeld and
Carl Bergman, both Germans. In the
early days Of the society the duty of
Leading the band was shared by num-
per OF men, among them Ureli Coreli
Hlil Otis founder), Loder, Boucher and
brlstow among them. Hill and Bristow
were native Americans, Loder was an
Englishman; Boucher Frenchman.
Until the comming of Eisfeld, the
principle of rotation among the most
distinguished and capable men pre-
vailed, but after Eisfeld died (in a
! shlpwrcck while voyaging to his native
land) the headship became single.
Damrosch a Conductor
,bergmann stood alone until his
physical breakdown, and after single
terms by DR.. Leopold Damrosch and
Adolph Neuendorff, Theodore Thomas
took the helm and held it until his de-
parture to Chicago. Then came Anton
Seidl, after whose death there was an
interregnum filled by guest conductors.
all of them of foreign birth except
Frank Van der Stucken.-
walter Damrosch was conductor for
one season, and though by that time
he was a pretty we'll seasoned Ameri-
can, he could not lay claim to Ameri-
can nativity, having been born in Bres-
lau. Among the guest conductors was
Russian, Safonoff, who became per-
manent conductor for q space, an Eng
iishman, a Dutchman (Willem Mengel-
berg, who is to come to New York
again in January to direct the second
half of the National Symphony So
clety's concerts), q Frenchman and
Victor Herbert. an Irish-American of
German artistic antecedents.
Hadley a True American
The new associate conductor is all
American, unless study and service in
foreign lands be held to have tinctured
his nationality. But, to parody Gill
bert's familiar words, had he been a
Russian, Frenchman, Turk or Prussian
instead of full-blooded American he
could not have led the orchestra better
than he did last night.
de was masterful in command, pene-
trating of insight into the scores which
he had in hand. firm yet flexible of
beat, clear and unmistakable in his
mute commands, continent and graceful
or gesture, and he held respectful
attitude toward his men, the public
and the art of music.
Moreover, he got a quick unanimous.
willing and eloquent response from the
orchestra. Little more need be asked
OF any conductor.
The music consisted of Rachmani
nof's symphony in i minor, Bruch's
violin concerto in G. minor and
Moszkoffski's suite in F major.
Though none of these pieces was
new, only the concerto was thoroughly
familiar to the public. It's solo part
was played by Toscha Seidel, who
squeezed out Of the composition the
last drop of sentiment and passion of
which it was capable, and by drawing
tone clean, clear, full and beautiful
Except occasionally from the G
string) caught hold of the favor of
the audience nightly.
The symphony went superbly-a
splendid work, fecund of fancy, strong
in imagination, a flowing stream of
song, sonorous, with stupendous sono-
rity at times, but never blatant.