Evening star., 1933-05-14
Mothers of Music's Great
Share in HonOrs Today
Music World Owes Incalculable Debt to Mothers
of Its Gifted Ones-One Hundred Voices to Join
in May Festival of Washington Choral Society
Bv Alice Eversman.

matcneQ CnaC OF NINE. SCueCkgOlO
was Richard Crooks, tenor, who,
since his appearance here in Mrs.
Townsend's Wednesday musicaleS
at the Mayflower, has added con-
tinually to his fame as the finest
representative of bel canto sing
ing in America today. Both sing
ers are scheduled to appear again
at the Townsend Morning Musi-
Gales next Winter
Sharing the. Wagner program
was the second performance in
America of "Belshazzar's Feast" !"
which was recently given a first
hearing by DR.. KouSSevitSky and
the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
This is an oratorio from the pen
Of a young British composer,
William Walton.
This same composition will be
featured at the May festival an
nounced for Ann Arbor, Mich, on
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday Of this week. The eyes
and, above all, the ears of the Wu-
Sical world will be turned in The
direction of that city for the re-
actions to follow the world pre-
miere of Howard Hanson'S opera,
Merry Mount" This latest work
of Hanson's is to be included in
the repertoire of the Metropolitan
Opera next season and it was only
by special permission of the opera
association that it could be pre-
Sented in concert form at the Ann
Arbor festival. Mr.. Hanson will
conduct and the librettist, R. L.
Stokes, will be present. The
artists who will sing it are Leonora
Corona, Rose hampton (heard
yesterday at the Bach feStivaD
Frederick Jagel, John Charles
Thomas, who, it was recently an
nounced, will sing next Winter at
the Metropolitan, and Chase
Baromeo.
A curious situation which has
several times occurred, especially
in operatic circles, was the discov-
cry, when the announcement OF
Hanson'S opera was made, OF two
other operas written by American
composers about the same theme.
The first was by a Chicago mu-
sician, Rossetter Cole, to libretto
by Carly Ranck and another
written by David Stanley Smith
to a book by Lee Wilson Dodd.
Neither Mr.. Hanson nor Mr.. Stokes
was aware of this until it was
revealed by Edward c. Moore,
critic of the Chicago Tribune. Mr..
Coles score was begun in 1920,
but not completed until 1927
when it was considered for pres
entation at the Chicago Civic
Opera. All three stories deal with
a community of English cavaliers
that had been established on the
site of the present city of Quincy,
Mass, and which achieved a
place in history through the story
of the invasion Of the town OF
the Puritans who destroyed the
Maypole with which the inhabi-
tants of Merry Mount celebrated
the joy of Spring. Mr.. Stokes
gathered the material for his book
from Hawthorne's The Maypole
of Merry Mount" and the opera
contains an effective dream scene
entitled THE Hellish Rendezvous. "
In making his announcement,
Mr.. Moore suggested that there
be a Merry Mount festival to show
the different treatments of the
same theme. When the opera is
produced at the Metropolitan it
will be about the eighteenth
American opera that that organi-
zation has given.
THE recently sent out subscrip-
ton blanks from the Dorothy
Hodgkin Dorsey Concert Bureau
for the coming season of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
brought out an interesting revela-
ton regarding the musical taste
of this city. A great number OF
people have written in that they
would like to subscribe for the
season tickets provided DR.. Kous-
sevitsky will not include modern
music in the programs. This re-
quest has been so general that the
conclusion must be arrived at that
modern music has not increased
in popularity with Washington
audiences. It - possible that Mr.,
Stokowski's drastic efforts last
Winter to acquaint the public
with the new trend in music has
given rise to the idea that all
orchestra conductors will try to
follow his example. While DR..
Koussevitsky has been responsible
for introducing many novelties to
the public, it is neither his policy
nor that of the directors of the
Boston Symphony to force modern
music on his hearers and his pro-
grams have featured almost ex-
clusively the classics and ro-
manticists. Just how much DR..
KouSsevitsky would feel he could
permit himself to be bound by
such restrictions cannot as yet be
said. However, it is more than
gratifying that music lovers OF
this city have a decided prefer
ence for the older music, the in
spirational power of which has
neither been exhausted nor
equaled by any of the latest in
ventionS. But what are the fu-
ture Brahms and Wagners to do
if the public refuse to listen to
them?