Evening star., 1932-02-07
Choral Group to Sing
Dettinger's "Te Deum"
With National Symphony
Rehearsals Underway for Choral Concert-Lous
Potter Directing Large Chorus Which Will
Perform in March Under Kinder.
By E. de S. Melcher.

ER. KINDLER awoke one
mn morning from a deep sleep
VI and reached for the morn
ing paper. 1t happened
N he a Sunday. Or maybe II
wasn't. At any rate, he reacneo
fnr a paper-and the first thing
that caught his eye was the Woro
bach That word alone striking
some kind of fire within hlm, ne
then glanced at other words, ana
Suddenly was kindled both In
mind and spirit by "Sleepers
Awake" which followed the name:
Thereupon. he bethought hlmselt
of how very pleasant it would be
In hear this work and how nice
o. 20 without benefit OF advance
publicity guns. .
In the afternoon, or in the eve
ming. Mr.. Kinder left by PACK
door of the Arts Club, and well
submerged beneath the now famed
dark hat and the green CLOAK
which hangs giddily around ms
knees, set forth in search OF
"Sleepers Awake He ooopeo
along the street, it is said, IN
highly stimulated December mood,
bethinking himself Of the many
times back in Holland when, as
a wee small lad, he dreamed OF
some dav becoming the maestro
of Some great orchestral BODY.
He smiled to himself, too, at the
idea that no one was gong 10
know where he was, and that Ger,
tain backSlapperS for once Woulo
not be able to get near or at him
When he walked into the church
the commotion is said to have
been something. Or rather tne
silence was something. At Slght
of his StokoWian shock OF near
blond hair and the hat which ne
clutched furtively in one hand,
the choir is quoted as having gone
dumb and the members OF the
congregation were so f1abbergasted
that the very pews shook with
excitement.
"Whv look who's here" said a
certain lady. forgetting she was
in church. And all through the
building there ran that sudden
fever of curiosity and that un-
ouenchable rubber-necklng which
is always apparent at the ap-
proach of a greater or lesser
celebrity.
Mr.. kinder, sensing at once
that the sweet substance OF
privacy had gone from him for
ever, darted into a side pew, and
there, partially hidden from pry-
ing eyes. he waited for what he
had come to hear. 1t wasn't a
long wait. and before he knew it
the familiar strains of that ex-
tremely lovely work were upon
him, and the choir was rounding
it out with a finesSe which seemed
pleasantly astonishing.
Now that's what l like" said
Mr.. Kinder to himself. And the
more he listened the more he liked
it, and the more he liked it the
more he wondered if something
couldn't be done about it. And
that made him think back to his
fortune in having reached for the
morning paper and in having
come across the word Bach" and
on the fun of life in general and
how one of its incest features was
coming upon something like this
which proved so Unexpectedly
stirring.
And so when "Sleepers Awake"
had been disposed of, the newly
dubbed maestro Of the National
Symphony Orchestra hit upon the
happy idea of presenting a great
choral work with an augmented
chorus of such a quality as the
one he had just heard-and in a
great hurry he seized upon Louis
Potter, whose choir had done so
nicely with the "SleeperS Awake, "
and, as they say, in a jiffy had
arranged for the Washington
Choral Festival Association (which
Mr.. Potter leads to sing with his
orchestra some time in March, If
time and energy and enough peo-
pie were willing.
4
THAT is how the seeds of the
choral undertaking which Mr..
Kinder plans to present were
Sown. And that Is why every
Monday night an eager group of