Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-19


leads youth through Summers Of work pleas
antly tempered by play. and where MRS. Law
renee Townsend considers the possibilities OF
SUCH and-such an artist for her winters must-
Gales, an atmosphere OF artistic revelry Is
necessarily evident In the httle-known high
ways and the byways Of States north and south,
however, one sometimes runs into the best in
music when one has almost forgotten there was
Such thing.
Last Sunday, for instance in the very hinter-
land of the State of Connecticut we encountered
the unexpected Motoring through a small
community, surrounded for the moment by
corner drugstores We were arrested by the
distant sounds of violin. 1t being mellow
southland a mellow day-the time seemed
ripe for investigation. We descended from our
conveyance and meandered up the bfstering
Maine street, wandering in eventually through
an open door into the sanctums Of play
house." used during the week for the promotion
of the latest cinema quirks On small plat
form at the end of the hall stood a familiar
looking figure. dressed in immaculate white
trousers and blue coat, and playing the violin
with a degree of rare sorority, and surrounding
us were a hundred or SO fashionable hats and
heads and equal amount of fans trying to
beat away the warmth of the afternoon and
perhaps the sounds of the irreverent motorist
who blew his horn as he passed by and on.
The gentleman intruded upon was Albert
Spalding assisted by Andre Benoist at the
piano., and after swallowing hard on surprise
and looking into some of the nearest audiences
faces we found such notables as Geraldine
Farrar, Boris Saslawsky (he has been heard
here at the Library of Congress), Peggy Wood
and Edith Quaie. equally ardent spectators, as
neighbors.
Mr. Spalding's program, although fairly
conventional, was yet smoothly executed-and
his tone seemed for some reason richer than it
has ever seemed before. The Cesar Franck
SONATA" took new virtues (the first move
@R 1@ofvN
overplayed, begins to pail perhaps Httle), but
the recitativo and the fantasia and the ale
gretto POGO mosso were rendered with fexibility
and ease, with that warm tonal vibration, which
places Mr. Spalding so high among violin
immortals The program also included the
Veracini Prelude and Siciliano," Mozarts
"Minuet in D" (Which audiences always seem
to sigh and clatter over when it Is done),
Weber'S "Rondo Brilliant" the Schubert
wilhelmj ave Maria" the Brahms-Joachim
waltz in A." Sarasate's "Zapateado" and one
Of Mr. Spaldngs own compositions, ALA
bama," plantation melody and dance-an this
OF somewhere in the "stix" inhabitants Of
New Canaan may now rise and voice their
indignation), stumbled upon on q sunny Sun
day, with a greedy audience and a world-famed
artist nonchalantly pursuing his art in white
flannelS.
A MONG recent vital news items Is word that
n Yvonne Gall of the Paris Opera has come
to this country to sing the leading role in
Messager's La Basoche," to be given its Ameri-
can premiere next month by the Ravinia Opera
Company in Chicago. Incidentally Mile. Gall
Is said to be singing in Washington December
2. Another item of interest is that an American
contralto, Doris Doe, has been signed on the
dotted line by the Metropolitan and will make
her debut next Winter. Miss Doe, who is a
native of Bar Harbor, Me-, has been singing
abroad of late and has appeared most success
fully at the Dresden State Opera, as well as
having been known here chiefly as an orator1o
soloist Then again the new American opera,
Jack and the Beanstalk," fairy opera for the
childlike, with music by Louis Gutenberg and
libretto by John Erskine, will be presented
during the first or second week Of November
by the students of the Juillard School in the
new auditorium. And there Is considerable
speculation around about this town as to
whether two of our astute impresar1oS have
bethought themselves of signing up the new
Swedish nightingale Gotta Ljungberg, who will
be heard at the Metropolitan in the Fall, and
who it is said has sufficient beauty Of voice
and feature to make even the mighty Jeritza
quake.
IA announcement OF more than casual local
n interest has just come to light. 1t seems
that Elena de Sayn, Russian violinist, who has
made her home in this city for some time, will
appear in Washington on a program OF modern
music with Mrs. H. H. Beach, A. Walter Kramer
and John Powell. and that following this inter-
esting event (the date of which has not yet
been announced) Mrs. Beach, MIR. Kramer and
Mr. Powell, assisted by Miss de Sayn, will appear
IN other musical centers presenting similar
programs of their works.
This it would seem should be just about the
Rptrongest team imaginable to tour the country
in behalf of the "moderns." Mrs. Beach,
favorite wherever she goes, and the dean Of
woman composers in this country; Mr. Kramer,
composer, editor and about everything else,
pleasantly introduced this past Winter to an
attentive audience at the Salon Sutro, and Mr..
Powell who has made considerable name for