Evening star., 1933-02-05

Of American Festivals has
been organized with the object of
gaining Nation wide cooperation
in solving the unemployment
situation among musicians. This
it proposes to do by working hand
in hand with all local organiza-
tions in every city and State. 1t
Is planned to promote concerts
and festivals throughout the coun-
try which will take care Of eX-
perienced musicians sullc inc dur
ing there hard tines and provide
opportunities fcr new talent to
be heard.
The part of special interest to
Washington is the inclusion OF a
plan to establish and maintain a
National Opera in this city. BY
way of obtaining finances a coast
to-coast campaign has been
started for a million quarters"
half of which money will be for
the exclusive upkeep of the Ma
tional Opera and the other half
to remain in the respective States
for their individual enterpTiseS
Such names Of value are On tie
list of officers rs M. Ea5s.e VTs,c-
Ster GroXdalc, president; Prof.
Benjamin Grosbayne, chairman of
the music department of Brook
lyn College, vice president, and
Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson, first vice
president Of the General Fedora
tion of Women'S Clubs, secretary
and treasurer. The Artistic Ad-
visory Board consists of Mrs. Law
son, DR.. John Erskine, Mrs. H. S.
Godfrey, national music chairman
OF the General Federation, and
Mrs. John Buchanan, chairman of
American music of the National
Federation of Music Clubs.
There are other plans, all ar
ranged with the idea of assem-
bling musical forces to get con-
Structive results, but the unusual
interest and the one which
touches home is the question of
National Opera. That it has long
been held to our discredit that
we have no established opera in
Washington (perhaps the only
capital in the Occidental world to
be without one) is well known.
Several attempts have been made
to keep opera going through pri-
vate support and there has been
much talk of Government SUBJ
vention, but neither the one nor
the other has amounted to any,
thing. It apparently rests with
outsiders to find a way.
If we are to continue to develop
into truly musical Nation, we
-2ust have more grand opera, and
That at reduced prices as far as
- uct:on costs and entrance
ere concerned. Bringing the
rclitan- occasionally to- our
6 not sufficient and too
n permit of its being done
thout enormous financial
&c Washington alone can
"--Ccrt an opera and Gov
= subvention is still only a
hope, this plan of having
different communities, cities
q States of the entire Nation
contribute to the support of an
opera in the Nations Capital is
most excellent one and will per-
haps solve our problem of having
opera for the American people
and, eventually, by the American
people.
A. this moment, when the en-
tire world is observing the
f1ftieth anniversary of Wagner's
death, it is perhaps of interest to
read what this man, who did so
much to give opera a new and
advanced form, wrote on the sub
ject of a national theater. Eighty
four years ago, when Wagner sent
out his ideas, Germany had no
national theater for either drama
or opera. Wagner wrote several
pamphlets urging the state to take
over the direction of theatrical
matters and even drafted a mi
mute plan for their use. These
excerpts are from one OF the
pamphlets:
"The interest in the theater is
not of such kind that the public
has felt disposed to voluntarily
support an undertaking which
fulfilled all that was possible un-
der existing circumstances, in
any other way than by a payment
for admission to certain perform
ances-such payment not sufhc-
ing in and by itself to fully cover
the undertaking. costs. With
out a moments regret, one wit
nesses the dispersal of company
to which one cannot refuse its
need of praise; to no one does II
occur to inStigate proceedings for
its retention, but indifferently
one leaves to chance the fate OF
the next theatrical season: Yet
this general indifference to the
fate of the theater, taken with the
circumstance that during the Win
ter the public often attends the
performances in large numbers,
does not point to dislike for the
theater on the whole, but rather
a half conscious, half unconscious
doubt whether, even if more sub
stantially supported, a theater
- could ever be brought to
yield anything really good.
with so many symptoms OF a
natural taste for art, and notably
for dramatic art as we encounter
here in public life-it should es-
cape no one charged with con-
scious furtherance of the common
veal, how necessary for evolution
of the existing germs it is, that
their indweling bent be guided to
one common goal. TINS goal Is
none other than the full exercise
of dramatic art, in plentitude
made possible by the art expert
ence of today. Through a far
seeing application Of the organs
Of public culture, one would have
to work toward the reaching OF
this goal and here is the point
where the educational authorities
would come into immediate con-