Evening star., 1926-10-24
NJ i S &c
BY HELEN FETTER.

average musical intelligence of their
audience, or should they present the
same type of program in a small city
that they use in New York or Chi
cago? Has the average successful
radio program any lesson for the
concert stage? Does community
singing prove anything; if SO. what?
Should American programs be pre-
sented in English? What place on
the concert program has modern
music, American folk music. jazz,
etc! Do the critics help Or hinder
development of better programs:"
Contestants are invited TO send
heir Opinions" by mail to the Men
ie;ssohn c ub, Lyon g. Healy Build
'ng. Wabash avenue and Jackson
Boulevard, Chicago. III.
There is a lot to be said on this
subject. but. after all. the chief thing
is that concert artists must offer
their public something they cannot
get over radio. Who is going to
leave a comfortable easy chair by a
sizzling radiator to 60 and sit in a
drafty auditorium and pay several
dollars for the privilege of looking
at a single concert star. with long
waits between groups. unless that
star has personality plus real artis-
try and talent to give such enter
tainment as cannot possibly be got
ten by the ear alone?
THE time has come" as the walrus
remarked. for concert artists to get
busy and perk up their programs.
Ali people want enjoyment primarily,
except the students who come with
technique and style Of singing or
playing in mind rather than musical
entertainment. The soloist has got
to offer something more than the
Italian, German. old English and
modern group style of program.
Feodor Chaliapin. the great Rus
sian artist, has cannily tried an ex-
pertinent to help him solve the con-
cert program problem in his own
case. He IS carrying All opera com
pany Of his own choosing and di-
rect;ng around the country with him.
He is reported to have an orchestra
of IS pieces and is giving a perform
anoe of The Barber OF Seville" that
delightful comic opera in which he
has proba bly, his most successful
comedy character. Don BasiIo. He
brings this production to Washing
ton about 10 days from now.
Leopold Stokowski. whose extraor-
binary sense Of showmanship. as we'll
as his fundamental musicianship, has
caused him to be called by some a
"prima donna conductor" solves his
problem of rcvitalizing the con-
cert programs of that marvellous or
ganization, the Philadelphia Sym
phony Orchestra. by giving sympa-
thetic performances of the novelties
in works written for orchestral me-
dunn and by transcribing Bach for
his orchestra. Tuesday ne gives us
both-a Bach che oralvors piel.
"Wachet auf. ruff uns die Stilnme."
and Fantasia on a Theme of
Thomas Talfis," written by the Eng
lish modernist. Vaughan Williams.
y X
Down at the Auditorium that al
ways cHJOyAOfS 1OTTn OF musical en-
tertainment, the ballet. will be
brought by Mikhail Mordkin. the
Russian. and his company of 50
dancers and musicians. Born Of a
distinguished family of musicians,
Mordkin was early educated in the
ballet and has been a foremost advo-
cate OF the development of the male
dancer as an individual and not a
prop for a danseuse. His dim
neaping) is especially notable, and
he has covered the huge Metropoli-
tan Opera House stage in two
bounds. He first came to America
as joint dancer with Pavlowa. Since
the war he has even served in the
lowly profession of goat herd to try
and get money to support his wife
and son. He brings to the concert
programs here Friday many unique
works. as we'll as some of the ia
miliar, we'll loved ballets and diver
easements.