The Washington herald., 1921-09-11
DAbIROSCH FINDS
EUROPE SUNK IN
MUSICAL SLOUGH
Search for Compositions
For N. Y. Symphony
Disappointing.

has not been the case withSlitera-
ture. painting or sculpture. And
now comes one Of our best-known
masters with evidence that the
same inertia exists in the field Of
music.
It Is none other than walter
Damrosch, the genial and unsur-
passed conductor Of the New York
Symphony, who recently returned
from the other side after a more or
less fruitless quest for new COM
petitions of merit for his practiced
cboirs. In an interview granted to
John Alan Haughton of Musical
America, Damrosch takes a gloomy
view Of the possibility of a musical
renaissance on the continent or in
England In the near future.
II do not believe" he said. "tha.
there will be any Improvement for
q long time to come. There has
been no startling rise of genius
anywhere that I can see, and In the
matter of performance, with the
orchestras specially. they simply
have not the money TO spend on re-
hearsals. All Of our twelve great
heavily subsidized for one thing, re-
hearsals. The New York Symphony
rehearses every day, the London
| -, II,
cert, and II gives only nine concerts
during the season. Gabriel Pierne,
conductor OF the LamoureuS Or
that he was SO fatigued that he
had to go to the country for 9 rest
How many concerts have you con-
four! he replied. My dear sir i
and about 100 rehearsalsr He
nearly died Of the shockt
orcAestras Side Issues.
Their orchestras only cost aboul
half what ours do, and the players
are all occupied with other things
SO as far rs the orchestra 10 con-
cerned 1t IL . side issue. With NJ
It is the other way about and II our
men do anything on the outside
that 10 the side issue.
"The principal novelty for my
orchestra for the coming season
will be d1ndy's new symphony. Il
Rivage,' which he will conduct him
self during December. have other
things under consideration. but
am not ready at present to make
any announcement There are not
many, but. they are mostly French
and one 10 italian. did not find
anything Of the German composers
that struck me particularly. n ID
not that have the slightest feeling
against German music. but simply
that was not impressed with the
works looked over.
"As q matter Of fact, much Of the
recently-oomposed music seems to
me to get nowhere at all. Art
any art, must be . capitalization
of dreams of beauty which canno,
be realized in this world. but which
We strive to achieve in Art. II you
merely seek to be original. to &c,
into the fouth dimension Just for
the sake of getting there, the result
Is not apt to be q thing Of beauty
Many of the contemporary compos-
ers seem to me to be doing Jus,
this and nothing else. stravinsky
for instance, whom I greatly ad-
mire, reached his highest express
sion in Petrouchka,' and has now
gone beyond ideals. The English
school is merely groveling in usli-
ness.
AudiSnees Hardened
The old landmarks are gone and
SO far no new ones have been set
up. But the human ear, like the
donkey's back. 10 patient and after
a while II accepts with fortitude OF
Indifference what at first was pain
full. Debussy opened a door to per-
petual modulation which should
have made possible infinite beauties
Of composition. But what has hap
pened? With such frequent drop
ping from key to key, the ear losef
all sense of tonality. The thing
becomes monotonous and too much
monotony Is obliteration. 1t Is just
as though when walking through
a wood you have q chance to ad-
mire each tree and each shrub bu,
IL, you whizz past at lightning speed
there IL only a blur.
"Of course one of the things that
interested me most was the Amer
lean Conservatory at Fontainebleau,
which 10 meeting with the most
tremendous success. 1t 10 astonish-
ing what the French artists and the
government have done.
New Conservatory succeeAA
The idea, you know, was the
result Of talk had with Casade-
sus when was in France with Gen
Pershing establishing the army
music school At Chaumont. I asked
Casadesus why the French hao
never done anything to attract the
American music student as the Ger
mans had DONE, I suggested a sum-
mer school where advanced students
and teachers could have the advan-
tage Of contact with prominent
French musicians. Casadesus liked
the idea and talked of It to the
mayor of Fontainebleau and with
the prefect Of the department who
happened to be a friend Of his, and
the matter was finally placed before
the minister Of fine arts who had
the palace of Fontainebleau under
his jurisdiction.
That is how 1t began. The wing
Of the palace which had been used
for a hospital was fitted up, cleo
trio lights installed, modern plumb
ing put in and the rooms furnished ID
charmingly.
The day of the opening was a
real celebration. We drove up to
the palace between lines of French
soldiers in their tin hats. The for
NAL opening was in the Pavilion
Henry IL Later IN the parr C.se.