Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14

new music year, the prospects 10
the coming week are so meageI
that one might as well haul tht
old emblem down again.
Not so far away, however, art
the soothing rumblings of inni'
nent musical activities, most not.
able, perhaps, the announcement
by T. Arthur Smith that Tosca-
mini will be here for two aR-im-
portant symphony concerts. Those
who remember from last year the
fearful rumor that the New York
Philharmonic Society would cease
its annual peregrinationS tC
Washington, may now rest as
Sured that the fateS have no such
illwill in store. Word comes that
by the fearful and pecuniouS i'm
plorationS of small, but promi-
nent, element in this city, this
well nigh immortal group of mu-
sicianS are to return.
Fleeing as the appearance OF
Maestro Toscanini and the now
continentally renowned SYM
phony orchestra are to be, it is
really something of an event to
have them at all, inasmuch as
their ut-of-town programs are
to be very scarce. Furthermore,
since Europe-tradition cold
to the musical efforts of this
new" country-has treated this
orchestra with everything short of
the laurel wreath, during its SEN
Sational tour this Summer, one
may expect the pulse of popular
excitement to rise even more than
heretofore.
And. incidentally, this is the first
time ToScanini has appeared more
than once during season.
X *k
The third concert that this
famed orchestra from New York
Is to give, will be under the direc-
torial baton of Bernardino Moli-
mari, who will have as soloist
Nikolai Orloff, prominent Rus
sian pianist. The date for this
event will be January 81, the other
two concerts coming before and
after.
And just to tie up with last
weeks ramblings, it seems that
ToScanini will-after all-be more
or less permanent director of
Bayreuth activities, according to
Walter Damrosch, who seems to
know about such things.
y 4
While fiddlers and fiddles, plan
lists and pianos are all trouping
back to town, fresh from favorite
recreation haunts, and music
shingles are going up and shut
tiers coming down, few favored
WashingtonianS are coming back
from a place that is better known
on the West Coast than here.
The Bohemian Grove, 10 or so
miles to the north of San Fran
cisco, must be the most idyllic
spot imaginable for musically
minded people, if the reports that
have drifted into town are true.
Here, in this wild, untutored
grove-really a series of groves
cut into the midst of giant red
wood forests, more than a thou
sand members Git started with 80
some years ago. now spend what
may be said to be unique vaca-
ton.
Both the arts and sciences are
represented among these mem
berS: musicians, bankers, railroad
magnates, playwrights, publishers,
journalists, all are to be found
during the Summer at this haunt.
But nary a lady. The organiza-
ton was formed with the pur-
pose of fleeing domesticity-and
possibly-feminine foibles. At
any rate, scattered among the
rambling California hills, perhaps
as near to the clouds as a modern
Valhalla could be, the Bohemian
Grove swallows up into its ample
folds all who are anxious to "get
away from everything" in the
tepid city.
It is said that no formalities of
any kind are in order here. A
group of two dozen or more per-
sons have tents around a redwood
clearing. In the center is a plat
form, and on platform the best
piano that money can buy This
piano remains there during the
Summer, rain, literally, never so
much as soaring it with a drop.
And here is the wonder of the
place: 1t seems that almost any
morning of the season one may
fall out of ones tent to find Rach-
maninoff or Hoffman informally
playing ante-breakfaSt music.
Further along, in another grove,
Lawrence Tibbett may be singing
away to his hearts content, and
further on yet celebrated COM
poser may be stunning little of
his latest opera or symphony.
No formal audiences, no regu-
lated applause, no scraping of
chairs greet these performances.
They are expected and as gener-
ally anticipated as the 8:l5 train
into town. The artists are there
to enjoy themselves. If they hap
pen to want to give vent to in
formal outbursts of their art they
are free to do so-every technical
facility being at hand. It is all a
matter, so it is said, of do as you
will" The bankers may trot hand
in hand through the forests and
the railroad presidents may &c
swimming. Or, over the eternal
fire that a vigilant Italian chef
watches, day and night, a band OF
philosophers may argue the words
of their profession.
1t seems to be, however, the
musical atmosphere that every
body or anybody may fall into
that brands this spot as unique
The idea of waking up to the
strains of some world-famed COM
position, played flawlessly by 6
maestro, who has probably only
himself to satisfy, is something