Evening star., 1931-12-13
BY E. de S. MELCHER.

~ INCE a prominent" local musician
made the astonishing assertion that she
(of he) liVed only for the classicists
! and that any who could swallow
a the modernists with any degree of
pleasure was warped not only IN taste,
bx in mind and "Gershwin2 Who is Gersh-
WIN? I never heard of him. If he writes
iazz, he's impossible" it has seemed as though
perhaps these times little out of joint
And since this enightening experience with
one who is really well versed in the great
masters of the past, but who refuses to have
anything to do with contemporaries (and
Eershwin certainly has been distinguished
contemporary and who no longer be
denied as being partly representative of this
hge, even if we don't like it,, it has occurred
b us that if we are not willing to keep up
Rith the musical trend of these times, then
ne are not keeping ourselves abreast with
very definite and very important phase in
music
Even Mr. Kinder, who is a conservative at
beart, said only the other day. Were going
kp play the moderns (meaning his orchestral
N@4ots of them" Now if MIR. Kinder and his
orchestra, which grows in musical craftsman
kfdp by leaps and bounds, are going to attempt
Some of the current compositions (what ever
happened to the Casella suite?), does this
mean that said lady or said gentleman above
VIII find it necessary to sit at home and brood
pSer Bach and Beethoven? And because she or
u. Is undCCuStOHleO 10 a fodCTe Ou fTmCenpS'
that this fact will make her eschew the other
hiverting modern musical highways?
Only the other day Mile. Yvonne Gall and
6ward Johnson proved, at q Townsend
knusicale, that these moderns are not to be
Booted out of court.
r. is perhaps difficult to keep up with what
, is going on right under the nose of this
present generation. But since we must gauge
ourselves by something, some one suggested
Drawing up short, simple QUESTIONABLE to
pnd out what we know of the current flow Of
rausic and what we don't. The QUESTIONABLE
Follows:
/. Who wrote "Wozzeck"? (Some might
td "and why?)
2. What current opera, recently produced,
Bad COW leading character?
.. What American dancer has been called
khe American Wgman?
A. What famed American soprano retired
from opera at 40 and from the concert stage
hrly the other day at so?
s. What violinists fingers are perceptibly
E,nger on his left hand than on his right2
6. What is the most successful opera the
past five years has produced? (The answer
tcnt Peter IbbetSon.")
z. What orchestra leader recently made his
eebut as an operate conductor? Where? And
N what?
o. Who has been commissioned 10 write a
pusical ode for the Bcentennial celebration?
D. Wndt opera SIar once graCed Manhattan'S
rNfusic Box Revues"?
10. What is the oldest symphony orchestra
E1 the United States?
IL. Who is the composer of the recently
completed opera Helen Retires"?
IL. What well known conductor was once a
tnamber of the Philadelphia Orchestra?
i3. Is it true that there are 81 United States
Navy Bands?
IA. What important new violinist played
earavinsky's recently completed violin concerto
In Berlin?
Is. What members of the once hourishing
washington Opera Company will return here
Nth the Cosmopolitan Opera Company In jan
&aIy? CThe answer to this last one In case
eoQ haven't heard about this opera company,
Jacques Samossoud, conductor; Ivan WANT
3n8, tenor, and Ralph Errolle)