Evening star., 1925-02-22
LEGINSKA FRANKLY DISCLOSES
Why SHE DROPPED OUT OF SIGHT
Had Worked Herself Into
Nervous Breakdown,
Says Pianist.
Writes Music of Modern
Kind and NoiU Goes
Back to Concerts.
snsc;.I Disnatcb TO The Star.

ginska was wandering, hatless and
| penniless, through the dlmly-ht
streets Of the lower West Side. She
| walked hurriedly and aimlessly, un-
conscious of the city around her.
| Later that evening, while the po-
| lice were beginning their search for
her, she was in a friends apartment
| convinced her career as a pianist was
ruined She sat down at her friend
piano and began to write music. she
\ worked all through the next day.
Since then she has been in secluslon
near Boston, and during that time
she has written piano concerto.
Before Miss Leginska makes her
temperance Monday night in a
piano recital at Joplin, Mo, she tells
| in her own words why and how she
vanished.
Asks Public to Forgive.
| The interview was given before
she left New York. in the apartment
of Mrs. Dorothy T. Bartholomew,
close friend. She declined to give
| the names of the friends who aided
| her. She made this appeal to the
public:
I'm sorry | disappointed my audi
ence. | beg their forgiveness. l ask
them to remember the ten years L
have kept faith with them. l had an
| utter nervous breakdown. Hao
! worked too hard.
She explained for the first time her
| movements on the night she dlsap
peared, of which she could recall All
| but about two hours
II remember starting to look 1or
taxi to go to Carnegie Hall" she salu
'if I had found one right away !
| probably would have gone automatl'
cally. But as 1 slipped through one
! dark West Side street after another'
the world grew hazy and unsuo-
stantial. / must have walkeu iol
about two hours like this. l have nc
| recollection of becoming unconscious
If did, and none of the things clear
ing up for me again. l have no idea
where | went.
Worried About Concert.
TT was like being intensely pre-
| occupied and then coming to with
| start. without ever being able to re
call what you were pre-occupiet
about. The thing that brought ms
up with a shock was the realizatloI
that the concert must be over.
II felt desperate. I found l walked
far down town. l did not nave
cent of money. I remembered some
friends lived near and walked miser
| ably on to their house. L told th<n
| everything was over-my career, my
work, my life, everything. / mus
have been badly hysterical. L tolt
them the one thing / could not beal
was to be found. They gave theil
word to tell no one and kept It.
"I could hear music singing in my
head. asked for paper and sa
down at my friends piano and wrote
Ny friends wife had been nurse
and understood the condition wa:
In No one smoke to me. Food wa:
brought to the piano and l ate Il
| with one hand.
TeIephoned Her Secretary.
"At last much of the music in my
head was set down. / felt bettei
and knew I could face people again
II remembered people must be wor'
ried and must be searching Tor me
l telephoned my secretary, MISS La
cille oliver. l was persuaded 10 &c
to the home of another friend OUT
side Boston, where there were all
and sunshine.
az went directly to the train ant
from the train to my Boston trleno
house. Ny clothes were sent to me
IL returned to New York to Mrs
Bartholomew's apartment last Sun
day night. While l was outside Bos
ton l finished my piano concer'o.
| think 1t is going to be very nice.
When Leginska, curled on so1a
had begun to tell of her breakdown
her eyebrows had contracted nervous
llv and she turned to the grand piano
a. to parent to reassure herself !
was over. When she finished she
turned her head as If the concerto
copied and printed, were alread.
standing in the rack. She was frank
~ juhIIant. The worried frown hac
disappeared.
Plays ON Lap keyboard.
During interviews Leginska hold:
in her lap keyboard with perhaps
90 KEYS. AS her square, muscular
fingers worked constantly, she tolo
| what she meant when she salu snt
| has worked too hard"
"I begin at $50 o'clock in the
morning. 1 practice for six or sever
hours on the piano. l work on the
music / will play In my future plaht
recitais. Then / study the score
shall use in conducting. OF course
there are always interruptions.
have to see my managers, have pho
tographs taken, answer 1mpprtan'
letters-all the detail of this NE
When 1 finish my study, by evening
/ am free to compose. For the las
few months l have been finishing the
things wrote last Summer worn
on them until q of GOV " NioSfA AAA -
morning.
You see," she said, 'I sleep very
lightly. It's been years since L have
had what is called a sound sleep. AL
| through the FIVE or six hours each
/ night l sleep 1 wake at every unusual
| sound. OF course"-this was added
spologetically-I try to get out In
the air. Once in a while I have q
little walk just before L go to bed"
Practice Exhausting Work.
Piano practice as a professional
does Ii Is exhausting work. Usually
1t is done in two-hour stretches
Neither is study of scores for con-
Quoting easy. Legtnska is the first
woman conductor in this country. She
led the New York Symphony last
month Next month she conducts the
! Peoples Symphony in Boston. She
can. recall effortlessly the hidden
meaning of each phrase. An evening
of actual conducting, she said, is the
hardest kind of physical work. After
a 10 or IL hour day Leginska COM
poses.
! Before she disappeared there were
months of this in the gaunt house or
| West Twenty-seventh street. Before
| that there were months when she
| was studying In Germany to be the
| first woman conductor, making heI
debut, composing six major works
and practicing, always practicing.
| Behind the terrific impulsion which
! drives Leginska's slight body as nc
Mediterranean pirate ever drove his
| oarsmen is the desire ito write cour-
| ageous music" From the core OF
| her past life comes the energy which
| for FIVE years has cracked in her
| self made prison of work. She is now