Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

dates to appear after they have
finished their training in their
home towns" and see to it that
they can make living there.
This would help the product of
their own community and help in
developing the musical program
of the city itself.
This idea seems practical, sound
and filled with possibilities of fine
progress and distinctive develop
ment In communities scattered
throughout the country.
F you can't bring the people to
grand opera, take grand opera
to the people, seems to be
the slogan of the Metropolitan
Opera Co. Within the last few
years the Spring tour of the COM
pany has been considerably en-
larged. Now, the latest announce
ment made by Otto Kahn, chair
man of directors of the company,
states that two test performance
of grand opera in suburbs of New
York are to be given next De-
cember. Full Metropolitan casts
and equipment will be used in
White Plains, N Y. It will be
planned to have as many popular
priced seats as possible. Empha-
sis is brought on the fact that the
operas are to be given for the en-
tire community and not any one
class. The performances will be
given in the WestcheSter Recrea-
ton Center. Mrs. Eugene Meyer,
chairman of this recreation COM
mission, is we'll known in Wash
ington music and social circles,
spending the Winters in this city.
This recently completed recrea-
ton center is said to be a most
remarkable building, with equip
ment that makes various projects
possible that otherwise would not
be feasible. The building cost
100000.
Mr.. Kahn is quoted as having
said: II have found that people
who live in less crowded COM
munities, like our suburbs, are
particularly responsive to art.
Given good music away from the
hurried and bustling element in
our daily life, they are sure to
respond. In art the situation in
America today is similar to the
situation in the Renaissance dur
ing the fifteenth century. Then |
Rome was the center for art, and
New York is the center of Ameri-
can art now, but the big centers |
must always reach out to the
provinces to really reach the peo-
pie and gain appreciation for art"
***
TGNACE PADEREWSKI, the great |
musician of Poland, will pass
the milestone of his threeScore
years and ten the 9Th of next No
vember, yet he has announced |
from Paris just prior to spending
the rest of the Summer in his |
chateau in Morges, Switzerland,
that he will come to the United
season. In an interesting inter
view given in the French capital
the artist Is quoted as having |
said: This age is not propitious |
for art. 1t is an age of economics. |
1t is an age of production, and as
such it has great value, for it
has brought greater comfort to |
the masses. If it Is we'll directed |
it may later come to be regarded |
as one of the most valuable |
epochS of this ever-changing |
system of human life.
But genius, and therefore the |
creation of great art, is impos-
sible under the present system of |
living. Genius requires not only |
the divine spark which comes as
an accident, but also favorable |
conditions in which to develop. |
Most essential are quiet and in
tense concentration of mind.
There is another handicap to |
the creativeness of art in the in !
creasing tendency toward collec-
tivism. People are, more and
more working in groups. They !
form trusts, corporations and fed
erations, and thereby accomplish |
marvels commercially. But no
poem or painting was ever Gre
ated by a syndicate. Art is great
only when it bears the stamp Of
the individual, and today the in
dividual is being merged and lost
in the group. Where is
there any one today who is reach
ing the heights of Bach, Beetho-
ven, Mozart or those later Roman
ticists, Schumann and Chopin, or
that youngest and most powerful
genius, Wagner?
81 try to keep my mind open,
but I cannot understand the
meaning of most of the music
that is being written today. On
my programs are the works OF
m o dern composers - DebuSSy,
Rachmaninoff and Schelling-but
the average composer OF today
seems to be seeking color only,
and color Is not music"
M. PaderewSki is further quoted
as looking to America for the re-
turn of art, first, because wealth
alone will permit it, and second,
because the standard Of education
in America is constantly being
elevated. On his American tour
he will include rs cities.
incidentally, the Washington
manager, Mrs. Wilson-Greene,
who is abroad, has arranged by
cable for M. Paderewski to give
several concerts in nearby cities,
but, due to his established atti-
tude toward the National Capital,
the pianist refuses to make a date
for Washington.
Mrs. Greene talked with DR..
KouSsevitzky about programs for
the Beethoven Festival to be held
here next December. She also