Evening star., 1931-04-05

~ the calm and quiet of Easter it seems
scarcely proper to launch what must
invariably be turned to argument, but the
gist of the matter lies so potently before
us that it is impossible not to reprint it here
with The writer is Emerson Stringham of
Falls Church, Va, and he speaks as follows:
"Dsar Sir: The very recent performance in
Philadelphia of Anton Berg's Wozzack' espe-
cialy provokes the thought that in the matter
of programs Washington is like a rustic COM
munity We are told that the Philadelphia
performance was an occasion of extraordf-
nary interest, the audience coming from the
whole Eastern United States, and special
train being run from New York. How long will
it be before Washington shares such oppor-
tunities?
During the past season we have had nu-
merous visits from the bsst orchestras and we
have been particularly fortunate in having SO
many of the concerts in the evenings. Would
it be too much to hope that there may be some
improvement next season in the numbers
selected?
We read of splendid concerts given in Bos-
ton. New York. Philadelphia and even Middle
Western Cities. But when the same conductors
come to Washington they substitute for the
most interesting of their numbers some old,
well worn hackneyed compositions. Specif1ca-
ton might be unpleasant, but have checked
given here shortly after the same organization
has elsewhere given nearly identical program
but for Washington what is most interesting
is deleted. Mr.. Toscanini, in particular, has
given us the very weat..et sort of programs.
The magnificent work of himself and his organ
ization has been barely enough to carry the
weak programs.
"Manifestly this is not the fault of the direc-
tors, because they handle the rew material
elsewhere. And it is not the fault of the audi
ences, because they show their appreciation Of
good new music. Aside from some items during
the Beethoven festival, the audiences received
Stravinski's 'Firebird and Ravel's 'Valse' with
more enthusiasm than anything else that was
given in the symphony concerts. The Star COM
mentator remarked on the rise in spirit of the
audience when Ravels 'Valse' done.
THE difficulty probably lies with those who
make suggestions to the directors Somehow
notion seems to have developed that Washing
son audiences qualified to hear only such
compositions are elsewhere played for chill
dTen. This notion is baseless, any one would
realize who observed the reaction of the audi
ences during the present seasons symphony
concerts. Washington audiences are mature
and they wish to keep abreast with musical
progress. To treat them as undeveloped chill
dren is the wrong attitude, and it is to be hoped
that our symphony music, in other respects so
encouraging, may be raised, in this respect to
the standards of Cleveland, Cincinnati and st.
Louis, to say nothing of the larger cities"
Mr.. sTRNGHAM has put his finger nimbly
some of the scknesses Of the past SYM
phonic season One must admit that it will
probably be long, long time before Washing
ton is staging "Wozzecks" and bringing all of
the East Coast by train-and that many of the
programs of the Winter have suffered from old
age. We should Furthermore, like nothing SO
well to have some of the programs of next
-
present. And yet here we have to disagree
with Mr. Stringham. He says the audiences
'show their appreciation of good new music"
and that Washington audiences are mature
and they wish to keep abreast with musical
progress" Quite right Washington audi
ences are mature. But the writer forgets to
add that they are lazy-notoriously laZy-and
that it Is just hard to find out what they
like 1t is easy to find out what they do not
like
The instance of lie Sacre du Printemps' is
one of those rather painful memories that re-
flute MIR. Stringham'S theory For, although
audiences took kindly to the "Firebird" and to
the "VaIse" OF Ravel, they did not scream
with approval or wave their hats or even so
much make the hall vibrate with their ap-
plause and when it came to the Sacre (Which
is meant to be approved by the musical lit
erati) there was such silence must have
come as distinct blow to the conductor and
10 the orchestra. 1t is thus not hard to imagine
why those groups choose the old school rather
tnan the new-since, although there many,
many discriminating musical perSonages in the
audience. when it comes time to register ap-
pToval their tongues, their gloves, the
tepidneSs of the weather prevent them from
doing more than sitting in apathetic silence.
. Times, we trust, will change with the new
year. AS Washington has symphony
orchestra Of its own-with a man such as
Stokowski of Philadelphia to bring the world
to him rather than his orchestra to the world,
the city will become symphony conscious. With