Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09
M U SIC
BY HELEN FETTER.

Clubs magazine indorSes a move
ment to place Theodore Thomas
in the Hall of Fame. In this ia
nous hall are memorial tablets to
81 Americans. There are repre-
sentatives of many professions
statesmen, orators, inventors, dis
coverers, scientists. educators,
preachers, poets, actors. SO far
music is the one profession not
represented.
Theodore Thomas, father of
the American orchestra" as he
has been called, spent AZ years
pioneering in this field. AS
Charles Edward Russell. noted
journalist, says in tribute to this
great musician:
when he began the public
understood an orchestra to mean
two fiddles and a double bass that
played so folks could dance. When
his tired hand laid down the
baton for the last time complete
symphony orchestraS in seven
cities were pouring forth a flood
Of exalted music to comprehend
ing and responsive audiences.
Cali his life was devoted to this
one aim, to develop the taste for
music and the ardent love of it
that he felt to be latent in his
countrymen. Wide travels as a
boy violiniSt had given him early
an intimate knowledge Of the
American psychology. That faith
in his people he never lost and
though he died before he saw the
contamination of his hopes, after
ward the world had to note the
singular fulfillment of his pro-
phetic vision"
A MOTHER orchestral blossom
= new to the American scheme
Of the present day music courses
and concert seasons is to bloom in
Washington next December when,
it is announced by Mrs. Greene,
the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
the paragon of them all for I'm
iShed performance, will celebrate
its f1ftieth anniversary Of exist
ence. OF course Boston will get
much more elaborate and continu-
Gus form of celebration. The Ma
tional Capital, however, Is. listed
for a series of four performances
of works by Ludwig van Beetho-
ven. These will include the ninth
symphony with four distinguished
SoloiSts and a chorus of $50 voices.
The performances will be given in
Constitution Hall. In addition the
Boston orchestra probably will
make two other appearances here
in concert courses, playing works
by other composers.
In the Hub" as the New Eng
land metropolis is widely termed,
orchestral music appreciation has
apparently reached a particularly
lofty pinnacle. It is reported that
already SIS, 900 has. been Subscrib-
ed and 81 concerts completely
sold out for the Brahms Festival
that the orchestra is presenting
in Boston the end of this month.
1t is interesting to compare the
successful value of this orchestra
with its background Of half cen
fury of training and building with
the earnest; sincere start being
made at this time in washington
by the National Symphony
Orchestra, which has as high
hopes to realize if the men in the
orchestra receive the willing,
practical and steady assistance of
citizens Of the Nations Capital.
WHILE on the subject of orches-
trail conductors, it would
seem timely to relate here an
anecdote told on Toscanini, the
Italian lion who came in with
the winds Of March and swept.
$500 Neutrality-suspicious. to q blaze
of applause last Tuesday. The
tale is relayed from the pen Of
Lawrence Gilman. It is called
"The Story of the Averted En-
core" It goes like this:
:. One night at La Scala the tenor,
zenatello, was singing in TN
Ballo in Maschera," I'm. the course
of the performance" writes Signor
Nicotra, "the prolonged applause
cd Follia, seemed to demand an
encore. This Toscanini opposed.
He had already made known
through the press that, inasmuch
as encores seemed to him to be in
bad taste and harmful to the rest
Of the performance, none would
be allowed when he conducted.
But on this occasion there were
audible protests from the audi
torium-protestS which grew in
volume the more evident 1t be-
came that they were to be Of no
avail. The intrepid Toscanini
stood tanning himself violently
with his handkerchief and wait
ing. But when the storm grew
to hurricane size, he at last lost
patience, stopped the tanning,
dropped his baton, left the plat
form, and quit the opera house
by the service entrance. HatleSs,
coatleSS, in full dress-Sweating
and tuning in the cold night-he
hurried through the frozen streets
of Milan and went straight home
and to bed, where his pursuers
found him soon after, absolutely
adamant to any plea for his
return.
THAT night the stage manager
had to appear before the curtain
to announce that a severe hem
orrhage had made it impossible
for ToScanini to continue the per-
Torrance, and that his place
would be taken. during the re-
naming two acts by his substi-
tute, Signor Sormani. The officers
Of the Scala were quite confident
that everything would be made up
without difilculty on the. follow
ing day. But at 6. the next morn
ing Toscanini left Milan for
Genoa, and sailed Immediately