Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25

the country are going in for music out
of doors on a. big scale: conductors are
1 engaged as for the regular season anu
impressive operas are being staged
Naturally. these affairs can be heard
by several times the number of people
that listen to indoor concerts: The
character of the audience Is somewhat
! changed, too. People go who scarcely
ever attend the bigger musical features
| in the regular season 1t is essential,
| therefore, that programs be selected
that will be enjoyed by this hetero-
| geneous collection of persons, and SO
/ the standard of popular enjoyment is
sought. Where q conductor at a
| Winter concert could choose pro
gram that was confined to some par
| ticular field with the assurance that
there would be enough people who
| liked it to fill the theater, the con
| ductor at one of these open-air con.
certs must select a program that Will
| attract the greatest number. prefer
ably a program of great variety.
| The results OF observations OF the Ell
| fects Of various kinds OF programs on
| the audiences have been little sur
prising. 1t has generally been found
that peoples tastes are far better than
was popularity supposed. Naturally
enough, the heavier compositions nave
/ met W1I0 less ESSfDOlt5c lHelI liAO5E Va
| lighter vein--there is no record that
Tschaikowsky's symphonic Pa
| thetique'' has even so much as been
tried on an open-air audience-but at
the same time it was discovered that
some Of the less known compositions
and those of the type that is usually
considered over the head of the crowd
have been enthusiastically received.
AS a result there has been a general
let.up in the eternal recurrence or
many Of the old stand-bys, such
as Beethoven's Fifth symphony,
Schubert's Unfinished" and the ever
lasting william Tell overture. 1t
has been observed that audiences are
as well. if not better. satisfied with
Stravinsky and other moderns. This
growing popularity of modern music
is a thing which has astonished many
musicians of the older school and
which has equally delighted the sup
porters of the newer movements. The
cla.ssicists claimed for a long time that
nobody could understand the stuff
they themselves didn't understand IT,
thew declare. Now they find that
average audiences, IL they don't under
| stand it, at least like it, and the dis.
coyery has taken some of the wind
from their sails.
It may be, however, that this popu-
larity of modernism is merely another
example of the thirst of the Amer
| lean people for new effects and new
| sensations; that It is akin to the popu'
larity of jazz. If this is true there
may result from the spirit OF the age
something different. something that
will satisfy those who see in jazz
national music as we'll as those who
hone for new developments from the
use of the whole-tone scale and that
sort of thing. There may be a union OF
| two opposing, yet equally revolution
ary tendencies, and the result OF such
| a. union would be a thing to conjure
with. :.
Getting back TO popular" music, II
| would seem that 1t Is music OF almost
any sort that has been forced on the
attention of a sufficiently large num-
Der of people 1t may be brought TO
| THAR attention by merits which have
kent Il alive through several genera
tons. or by some catchy refrain, or,
ever. by the sheer banaltty or the
thing. Many popular songs owe their
nourlarfty to their insipidness. others
have hecome popular because they
have been repeated over and over
again for two or three hours during
some opegetta or musical comedy.
| That is an old trick, employed IN
grand opera as well as IN mus sea
shows" In any case, 1t seems that
ANYTHING will become popular II some
BODY can get it known. winch ieaVes
us where we started.
But the increasing popularity OF
outdoor music in the Summer Is doing
much to raise the standard or appre-
citation in the average person. lie
findg that good music is not such
buTaboo after all, that 1t is in many
"a ses as catchy as jazz, that it is as
l.rhvthrnic and as tuneful. He hears
a "clasgical" piece, and he likes it in
guite of himself: he applauds. And
hack of the scenes the sages nod
vyiselv-C c. w.