Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16
NJ u S I c.
BY HELEN FETTER.

! armament. She now goes to bed
J with the chickens on her model
| farm back home in the Middle
West.
The art of singing is going on
however. Rosa PonSelle, who
sings here this week in a concert
program, is one of the outstand-
ing young American singers and
is showing marked development
in the inner requirements of that
art each time she is heard. John
Charles Thomas and Richard
Crooks are other young artistic
singers of this country. The ra-
dio is finding daily young people
with the real temperament and
personality, as well as beautiful
voices, to be developed. All this,
however, takes time. Surely it
is reasonable to assume, with the
increased and more nearly per-
fected instruments for recording
voices and allowing singers to
hear themselves and Judge their
own faults more accurately than
any teacher could ever tell them,
that in time there will be more
great singers to carry on the royal
mantle Of their art down through
the coming ages. It so happens
that at this present time this lit
tie moment in the cons Of. exist
ence-that it is a. mechanical age,
and great singers do not seem to
have been born to blossom within
these few years. The interested re-
Searcher can find other similar
periods. For instance, in records
OF the period when Greece was at
its greatest power one finds the
names Of sculptors but not Of
singers.
At the present time the names
OF mechanical geniuses are house
hold words all over the world,
rather than the names Of artists.
There is one very young instru-
mental artist, however, whose
name is close behind. He Is Ye-
hudi Menuhin. Who knows but
what some singer will Join, that
distinctive group without q mo-
ment'S notice? +.
IN PHILADELPHIA recently Os-
sip Gabrilowitsch, the Detroit
musician who is conducting the
Philadelphia Symphony concerts
while MIR. Stokowski is on leave,
gave a short speech expressing his
own attitude in the matter of ap-
plause as a method Of apprecia-
ton of effort.
Ever since I have been in Phil
adelphia on this visit the uues-
ton most frequently asked me is,
May we applaud?'
Now" said the conductor, as
quoted in a newspaper of the City
of Brotherly Love, II want you to
get away entirely from that idea
of may"
This statement is reported to
have been greeted with loud ap-
plause, led by an eminent Penn
Sylvania juriSt, "a
when I took the baton for the
present series of concerts con-
tinued Mr.. Gabrilowitsch, mfr.
"Stokowski agreed I should play,
do and say whatever I pleased.
I am not, in this instance, speak
ing for Mr.. Stokowski, who, in the
political parlance of the day, is
conducting noble experiment in
the matter of applause"
Mr.. GabrilowitSch is said to
have agreed that applause by the
beating Of hands together is a
crude form Of appreciation. He
expressed the hope that perhaps
Mr.. Stokowski and the Philadel-
phia audiences could work out
some. better way. But, at pres
ent," he added, "it is the only
way we have"
Mr.. Gabrilowitsch then COM
pared the attitudes of various
cities, describing Washington as a
respectable and dignified CITY,"
and adding: when the orchestra
plays there 1t plays well, and
there is nothing to be said"
The implication evidently was
that the Capital was conservative
in showing appreciation, for he
continued. but when we play the
next night in Baltimore, you
ought to see the difference.
These men of the orchestra are
artists and they need apprecia-
ton. It is mistake to think you
have done your part when you
buy your tickets"
He then gave his current au-
dience full permission to applaud
when music pleased them and hiss
when it didn't. A considerable
portion of that audience arose, at
theh suggestion of a woman in
one of the front seats, and gave
Mr.. Gabrilowitsch a vote of
thanks. The latter requested that
when Mr.. Stokowski returned the
audience give him such a recep-
ton he never again would dare
to make a speech against ap-
plause at orchestra concerts.
And all this happened in the
home town of Ben Franklin, right
under the shadow of Independ-
ence Hall, in this "land Of the