The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-12-01
VISIT
TER|NATH
GIVEN
Frank Baer's Classification
Of Us Has Host OF
Biting Epithets.

We can't let the visit Of Paul
Whiteman 10 by without an after
word!
The Times was very proud Of the
fact that those very interesting and
beautifully written program notes.
to Mrs. Wilson's reene's Whiteman
program, were the work of a mem
Der or the Times staff, Frank Baer.
Mr.. Baer has given us some illum.
mating thoughts on Whiteman and
his relation to American music,
which we may summarize as 'im.
portant and true"
He says:
Paul Whiteman is the sort of per.
son people ask questions about. And
since his Washington appearance
at Polls I have been bombarded
with countless queries-chiefly by
reason Of certain explanatory notes
OF mine, which served as aAprogram
guide. Though / can attempt but
a crief after-comment on the affair,
feel safe in saying above all else
that Paul Whiteman and his or
chestra are something more than
a mere" vogue.
He is the leading exponent Of a
new expressionistio school-one that
has arisen slowly within the past
ten years--shunned and avoided, in
most cases, by those who still re-
side In a Mid-Victorian mental OBJ
livion and make little tin gods of
Beethoven and Brahms. Whiteman
represents in music what Nicholas
Vachell Lindsay stands for in litera-
ture or what Marconi epitomises in
electricity. All are modernists.
Whiteman Is something more.
Critics Too Trivial
''Jazz"-a vulgar name for o
captivating treatment coupled with
a facetious whimsicality of spirit
in modern American music--is
viewed as Whiteman's own exclu.
sive sphere, and. fear, many are
inimical to his efforts chiefly be-
cause they find nothing aristocratic
In the popular name of the music
he interprets. Though this doesn't
explain why the critics, in the
main, wrote specifically and cava-
lierly of his program and the de-
livery of 1t.
Though it ran counter to their
perspectves, and despite their
method Of handling it critically, 1t
must have aroused them with its
unusualness, it's quixotic clownish.
ness and its chameleon tapestry of
tempos together with it's garish
harmonic design.
Tempo and harmonies irresistibly
dominated everything on the pro-
gram save the Herbert "Serenades."
A decided absence of emotional
splendor" certainly should have in
dicated to the critics that White
man is pioneer in a new field
OF musical experimentation. Though
the spirit" of his whole concert
is spirit that emanates from
American soil, and one which will
enlarge Itself as soon as jazz com.
poses it's musical countenance, the
outstanding elements of the concert
were elements that concerned them
selves more specifically with man.
ner" than Subject matter"
Whiteman Like Whitman.
Like Whitman. Whiteman, be. j
lieve, strives for emotional effect.
He wishes his efforts to combine. at
once, the clever, the sophisticated,
the melodic and the symbolistic. To
date, he has forayed into unex.
plored fields, but-his aides have
not been numerous enough. Mr..
Gershwin, his chief assistant, whose
Rhapsody in Blue" is astounding
in. its design and dexterity, is
handicapped by lack of melodic
power; such a power, for example,
as is manifested in the works of
Herbert or Friml. Tonally, Gersh-
win is not a wizard His "out.of-
bound" harmonies are his one
great claim to distinction. Unlike
Friml, who never let's tempo over
ride his sense of ,musics "sex"1
qualities, Neutrality-suspicious. eager,
md seemingly uninspired, but
mechanically alert-plunges ever
ahead In a mad search for new
syncopative patterns. odd time
values, and freakish twists of
Mephistophelian shortcuts in aria
progression.
Tempo Swamps Him.
Grofe, Whiteman's principal or.
chestrator, is of the same type.
He is either unable or unwilling to
subjugate tempo to his within, and
consequently tempo swamps him
perhaps unconsciously on his part.
Within brief time, WhitenIau
Is destined to first appreciate and
then reveal to us that Jazz" pcs
sesses latent and, at present, un-
discerned lyrical and "spirituelle"
qualities. Present treatment and
present lack of versatile composing
inhibit the proper developmnt Of
such poetic qualities.
Demonstration will change. Newer,
bigger musical personalities--lne
as dynamic as Henry Hadley. John
Alden Carpenter and Charles Wake
field Cadman--will be caught in
the "jazz' current. And then White
man will be placed in possession
of the precise equipment with
which to scale new submits of en-
preston.
What Whiteman gave could never
have been produced in any other
land but the United States. In
treatment. the numbers smacked Of
vanity, barbaric abandon, satire,
snap-judgment, wise cracking"
seudo-fanaticism, surface-cultura,
newspaper-headline enthusiasm, mo-
tor-car demoniacs and a hundred
other Enthusiastically American
fondonciao ooYnpIovoa ond Voorao