Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03

ington citizens money with 1t to
another city to be circulated.
More than one concert artist
brought to Washington exacts
So, 500 to So, 500 as the artists fee
to be paid and taken away for
spending in New York or else
where, but certainly not in Wash
ington. Chaliapin has asked as
high as $4,000 a concert here.
This is all very well. Washing
ton must have a certain amount
of such outside expenditure. Any
national capital certainly should
have occasional performances of
the greatest orchestras and artists
in the country presented within
! its halls at enc time or another.
On the other hand, there might
we'll be developed sense of
proper proportion in such spend
ing and also a thought for the
| city'S own civic and musical de-
velopment. If Washingtonians
want to spend $4,000 for three
operas by a visiting company
given with limited and con-
stantly repeated group Of that
company's stars and necessarily
limited repertoire and scenery
because Washington has no opera
house that makes 1t practicable
to present greater variety of
operas more advantageouSly and
because several of the finest stars
hasten abroad and never go on
the tourS-that is entirely up to
Washingtonians. They have to
pay the bills.
Looking at another side of the
picture for a moment, we quote
Mr.. Kinder again when he said
before a large musical group here:
You people give 100000 for
three evenings Of opera. If you
would raise that same amount for
a symphony orchestra in your
own city you could have more
than 40 concerts during a season
at popular prices that you could
we'll afford. Moreover, with the
personnel of such an orchestra
made up of your own citizens, you
would be helping Washington
musicians to make their living
and support their families"
WASHINGTON has no opera
w house. Washington does have
an excellent concert hall. Also,
because of the orchestral work in
the sound films being incorpo-
rated in the pictures themselves,
Washington is very shortly going
to have a considerable group of
her neutrality-suspicious. and
in many cases artistic performers
without regular positions. There
are persons who predict that the
motion picture theaters will have
to reorganize and resume Give
orchestras" within a year or so,
as the public may grow bored
with canned orchestra music.
Such reaction has been shown in
large part toward many Of the
programs offered over the radio.
Constantly the radio concerns are
| having to elevate their standards
and employ only the finest talent
and the most famous speakers to
get people to listen in" In this
Gland of freedom" there IS no ges-
ture quite so significant and salts
flying as being able to twist the
knob and shut OF some radio per-
former who bores or irritates the
nearer.
In the meantime, however,
washington has the material
available, including a conductor
who is definitely headed for world
fame in that capacity--if not in
Washington, elsewhere-for he
showed here in two concerts the
possession of all the qualifications,
as well as genius degree Of ar
tistry, for building at very rea-
sonable cost a symphony orcheS-
ira. The combination offers
splendid opportunity for the CO.
operation of business and civic
organizations to raise the neces-
sary funds. Moreover, last sea-
son, by practical personal sacri-
flee, 80 Washington musicians
demonstrated that they had the
ability to make a good orchestra.
1t has been practically worked
| out that a sum of 100000 year
for five years would place this or
chestra in a position to offer edu-
cational concerts for children,
such as Damrosch and Stokowski
made famous; concerts of purely
classical music for adults and
programs with noted guest SOLO
lists, available in series of several
each, covering the music season
months of the year, at popular
prices, as a permanent 1nstitu-
ton.
The question now is, are the
people of Washington sufficiently
interested to subscribe, as individ-
uals or organizations, to a Ma
tional Symphony Orchestra fund?
Also there is this point to con-
slider: The day of the concert
soloist is definitely passing. Each
year finds fewer artists who can
command a capacity audience
for an entire program. Kreisler,
Rachmaninof, Ponselle, Pederew--
ski and few others still do 1t, but
the past season found many con-
| certs with seats vacant. The
visiting orchestras are restricting
/ their tour dates more and more,
too.
AS a last point, If a reasonable
fund is raised to give the men in
the National Symphony Orchestra
| a living wage the year around, to
| cover rehearsal periods as well as
the season of actual concerts, 1t
will be possible to institute these
series of programs as evening
performances, with the exception,
of course, of the children's events.
This should mean much to Wash
ington, where the Legitimate"
| theaterS have been narrowed