Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-29
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Talks by the Stokowskis Are Going to
Prove Helpful to Those Who Under.
stand Music and Those Who
Merely Know What They Like
BY SARAH n. LOWRIE

L
have so concentrated on composing or on
rendering the compositions Of others that
TO converse or speerhify about how they do
1t or how IL was done Is about as difficult
as II won Id be for dressmaker to turn car
ponter or for banker to run a shifting
engine
1t really is n profession all by itself. being
able TO. express oneself clearly and accept
ably In public speech, just as 1t is pro-
fession that very few men are equal to. to
conduct symphony orchestra, or to be
virtuoso at the piano.
Now and then there are musicians who
teach a specially chosen group of pupils and
YET at the same time continue their COM
posing or the conducting OF their concert
tours. but not many have the vitality to
teach and concertize, or to concertize and do
anything else.
Therefore what the Stokowskis propose to
do early this autumn in their four informal
talks on music is unique enough to deserve
very interested attention.
IF MADAM STOKOwSKI speaks as we'll
and with ns beautiful command Of Just the
right words for her subject as her husband
has proved himself able to do, these "inti.
MAZE talks that are proposed should be OF
the utmost Importance to musical people.
For. you have in the combination great
conductor who knows all instruments from
conductors standpoint. and the widest
possible range of compositions. and you have
one Of the first pianists in the world with
an artists and performers knowledge OF
compositions written for her instrument,
plus concertgoer shat Is listeners
musical knowledge Of music.
If they will both really talk as they think,
ns they might talk to n chosen few whose
opinion they wished to move or whose knowl-
eds" along certain fundamental lines they
took for granted. they will have conferred a
great favor on the real music lovers in this
town.
As vet even those Of us who love music
have too little chance to discuss music con-
sstrnctively. Musical criticism, which in the
French sense of criticism Is not any more
tearing down than II is unmeaning praise,
is scarcely valued here any more than dra-
matte criticism is. That is no one waits to
hear what the morning papers say of con-
cert or of play with the excitement that
Paris gives the first night or the first time.
And that is because the reaction of th audi
enrcS do not put our critics here on their
mettIe. They are not expected to be so i'm
portant IN their verdiCts either to the artists
or to the audiences or to the public that
wants to hear all about it even If it did
not go.
1t is inconcevabe in Philadelphia that
any city should care about first night as
much as Naples or Rome or Milan Or Paris
or Berlin does. They are as much stirred over
n new opera, or lew singer, or the first
une great composers composition is
given as two-thirds of this city might be
over or an international prize fight.
Ihat does not make them any better citi-
z'nS. or churchgoers, or even fathers and
mothers than we are. but it does mea that
they have more power Of enjoyment than we
hav" and are a much more rewardinC and
ut the same time alarming audience for
artists to respond to and for critics to dis.
cuss the good Ind bad points with.
WllEN persons who know music and have
v ID
the great standards of taste in compositions
discuss music or compositions and the way
they are played. of course they discuss what
they think with the same vim and ease n
group of engineers would discuss the plans
and the carrying out of the plans of RaInh
Modjeski In the present bridge construction
going on between here and Camden or that
"A group of merchant tailors would discuss
the relation of styles to this years prices
and demands: or that bankers might discuss
change in the Federal Reserve Bank laws
that would affect their power to borrow. 1t
IS technical talk In which an outsider would
be swamped.
II is the critics business to speak in the
Language Of the people the thoughts Of such
ttChnlcldnS concerning a composition or the
rendering Of composition. And that is not
easy. The critics that do not give fig for
th" public make their criticism too techIH-
cal, the ones that stOOp to get a hcarug
from the public are apt ~ make their criti.
ciSm too sentimental for Or against Music
vl'h them always reminds them of something
Gitfcrent--waves Of sobs, childish prnttc or
Windmills. Or they put music into moods
"nefably sad, merry jests tragic fnalities.
suicidal impacts, chaotic reverberations' are
some Of the phrases that come easiest "a
mind.
-
A Nd the critics are NOT so much m hIano
a Nc ,bo rorsons u.r, o,,r,.;.,,,o .t,oi.,'
I;omnn ho,'s, ''elr "m'
,ii,i, ,,,n sar t;,"ottaI,, S"rn t p"rI'"S
I tboy nr. Drrnni" ~ n,'o, ,,'"l',
L; &c iitoro ,,ino, .oiI;r 81 49,, ,, .,n'5 I.,,
" '.i'o ~ =; .,,, nP a'r,ns @ uI.'o "''P
I,ot Lnvo Innsotio,,, hooniTso y, a.
,"H' ,i3o,'I,,b. ~ somo,o ''oaa Oe.uuS' "H" %
.L,.iI,',a CIV ",.n 's NV "e
i"'''''t4'' ''D''D'''s nl' 'e'ns p''!eu
w music, }ust as thT purely technical at'i-