Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-19


Canada, too, has felt its magic:
The famous "handicraft FESTIVAL
of Quebec has found an echoing
counterpart in poisoning festi-
walls this year clear to Vancouver
on the west coast. The literature
for European Summer festivals is
assuming time table form and
piling high on the music editors
desk, now that May Is here.
Yet, with it all, the lucky pill
grim who 10 days ago was privi-
legged to enter Packer Memorial
Chapel, on the campus of Lehigh
University in Bethlehem, to hear
the twenty-third Bach Festival,
may we'll feel that he, or she, has
tasted the cream of all festivals
for the current season.
It is amazing how, in this Amer
lean little town of Bethlehem"
the unhurred spell of the true fes-
tival spirit exists. No chamber
Of commerce gives bigger and
better Bach festival luncheons.
There are no badges and no dele
gates. There are neither sight
seeing buses nor souvenirs. This
festival has no promotion COM
rnittee.
In spite of the lack of the usual
propaganda. the Bach Festival,
this year, was quite the most sue
cessful to date. The 1900 Ameri-
cans who came from nearly every
State in the Union, as we'll as
from Canada, to fill the seats
available, with several additional
hundreds turned away from fes-
tival and hotels, were people who
were representative of the finest
cultural ideals and who were, i'll
many cases, distinguished, even
famous, citizens of the United
States. They assembled quietly
and in dignity, with a delightful
spirit of informal comradeship, to
hear the trombone choir play be-
fore each session of the festival.
They participated generally in the
singing of the choraleS during the
"St. Matthew Passion" Through
their interest and practical sup
port Of such an artistic group as
the Bach Choir, these people are
laying the foundation for a New
World culture.
BETHLEHEM, Pa, has happy
- combination of contradictory
qualities. There is the simple
QuaintnesS that suggests the Old
World atmosphere, such as one
finds in Salzburg, or perhaps IN
Bayreuth and Oberammergau. At
the same time, every item that
supplies this particular quaintnesS
in Bethlehem is essentially Amer
lean. Although the laboring
groups for the factories that have
brought wealth to Bethlehem
have a veritable melting-pot of
nationalities, the backbone Of the
population Of the town. which has
provided the 800 members Of the
Bach Choir and the initial spon-
sors of the festival, is made up OF
American pioneer stock.
A new pilgrim to Bach Festi-
val might be pardoned for having
carried q pre-view mental picture,
imagining Bethlehem as a grimy,
prosaic center for ugly steel fac
tories. Such a visitor receives
an astoundingly pleasant surprise
upon his arrival in the town. AS
he ventures on any one OF the
eight graceful concrete arms OF
that amazing structure, the Bridge
of Bethlehem (Which cost S.
SOC, OO0) he finds the cool, well
ordered waters of the Lehigh
River running sedately and deeply
beneath. A little farther on they
break into white-crested falls and
rapids as they swirl down to
where the famous steel works,
which produced IS per cent OF the
munitions and arms for the allies
during the World War, raise a
small army of tall chimneyS. At
the distance from the beautiful
bridge that lies in the heart OF
Bethlehem proper, these chimneyS
assume all the soft charcoal
blackness with q background OF
gray clouds and occasional spurts
Of flame that would distinguish a
Pennell drawing.
*As for Bethlehem itself, 1t is a
town of peaceful winding streets
with tidy, well ordered homes
perched primly on their hilly
Slopes. All the buildings nestle
at the feet of a circle Of protect
ing mountains, just as swallows
contentedly huddle together in
miniature hills of sand. The hills
Of Bethlehem are green, making
an emerald geode for this town.
Bethlehem was founded in 1741
and chriStened by the leader of
the American group OF Moravians,
Count ZinZendorf, on Christmas
eve, in honor of the Nativity.
The town has had music since
its earliest days. In fact, it was
the playing of the trombone choir
one chilly Christmas dawn. play
ing the Christmas choraleS, as
was their custom, that turned
back a band of Indians bent upon
destroying the village. The In
dams, speeding down the river
in their canoes, heard this unusual
music coming apparently out OF
the upper air (the choir was sta
toned, according to tradition. In
the tower of the First Moravian
church,. The Indians decided
that it was a warning Of the Great
Spirit to leave this settlement
atone so they turned their canoes
around and departed. Thus it
was that Bethlehem was named
and saved on two Christmas days.
The Moravians brought with
them the Germans love of music.
They established among their
earliest organizations in this
country a Singstunde (hour of
singing) at all their services. At
first their orchestral accompani-
ment was merely of stringed in
IT,