Evening star., 1933-04-13
STOKOWSKI CONDUCTS "GF1OST
ORCHESTRA FROM EMPTY STAGE
First Concert of Kind Given
Amazed Audience in PhiIa-
deIphia Theater.
Leader Controls Sounds of
Musicians in Another
Room by Switches.
BY E. de S. MELCHER.

BY E. de S. MELCHER.
DR.. Leopold Stokowski, conductor,
scientist and musical experimenter,
gave the world its first "ceno orches-
ira" concert yesterday afternoon, before
specially invited audience in Phila-
delphia at the Academy of Music. In
the darkened auditorium, the specta-
tors heard an invisible orchestra play
music on an empty stage, while Sto-
kowski, seated in the rear Of the hall
before desk on which were a series
of dials and switches and a telephone
with which he could converse with the
orchestra, manipulated the transmission
of the sound and conducted" the
sound effects.
The orchestra was in another room
of the building. Here Assistant Con-
ductor Smallens led his men, setting
the pace of the music. while Conductor
Stokowski in the auditorium regulated
the volume.
Held Musical Miracle.
The result of this concert" and the
experiments which went with it, may
be said to be one of the musical mira.
cles of this age After two years of
oratories, together with Stokowski. has
worked out this invisible or ghost" or
chestra.
The first public demonstration OF this
new musical invention will be given in
Washington under the auspices OF the
National Academy of Sciences on April
27 when DR.. Stokowski will conduct"
his orchestra-which will be stationed in
the Academy of Music in Philadelphia
from the stage of Constitution Hall. AS
in the experiment shown yesterday, the
stage will be empty but for a special
lighting arrangement against a simple
drop" which is said to stimulate the
audiences musical appetite, and there
will be neither man nor any musical
instrument in evidence on the stage OF
the local auditorium.
Yesterdays audience sat spellbound
before the miracle" that was being per-
formed. As soon as all of the guests
were seated the lights were lowered and
as the curtain rose on the empty stage
Wagnerian music of an almost uncanny
beauty crept across it. From where you
sat you were sure that the violins were
playing to the left of the stage, that the
harp was at the extreme right and that
each musical instrument was playing
in the exact spot it would occupy If
the musician was there lin person"
Sat in Back of Hall.
Stokowski sat in the back of the hall
before kind of improvised desk on
which were the necessary dials and
switches, marked more low" 'less
low" more high" and "less high"
and which he moved and turned on
and off while the music was being
played. At the same time those
near enough to him could hear him
whisper into a phone which connected
him with his orchestra. and through
which he gave his get ready for such
and-such an experiment" command.
Thus, when DR.. Harvey Fletcher, acous-
tical research director of the Bell COM
pany, was illustrating the range and
the sound scope" Of the invisible
orchestra, by means of a specially con-
structed chart. Stokowski would Whis-
per into his phone Get ready, cellos,"
and in another minute he would flash
the ready" signal and the music OF
the cellos could be heard coming from
the stage.
Even more uncanny than the range
of the music, which is capable, as the
chart showed, of reproducing sounds
louder than painful sounds" and
sounds less than the rustic OF leaves,
was the experiment in which man
was heard saving some wood on one
end of the stage while a friend came
along, tramped across the stage, and
gave him some more material for MS
work. In this brief drama" you could
have sworn that the characters were
actually there before you-slnce wnlie
they were invisible. their voices. ana
their walking and saving came from
81 nf
could hear almost their very breath.
What" said Dr. Stokowski yesterday
afternoon to his audience when the
experiment was over with, what can
this new method of transmission mean
for music and musicianS"
He answered himself by showing first
that 1T can convey music In It's luli
and true range-plus overtones," which
he emphasized are vital to any musical
work, that there "are no limits to its
intensity" and that sit can carry a
voice above the orchestra a"-by which
he means that there will no more
drowning out" of operate voices, since
it will be possible to subdue the or
chestra at the time when the soloist's S
voice seems on the verge of perishing.
Meaning to Humanity.
What" then said DR.. Stokowski,
can this mean to humanity?"
He answered himself again by say
ing: II can imagine great gardens Of
pleasure in the future-where you can
hear the greatest music-coming from
a great light and sound tower which
we can construct" This he showed
would be possible in every city and
in every country, since with the proper
wires the orchestra, as will be demon
strated here in Washington, can play
in its home territory and be conveyed
anywhere and everywhere if the proper
equipment is at hand.
The music yesterday, except in Ger.
tain sections of the brass, was cleal
and as real as though each musician
had been on the stage. The stringec
instruments were reproduced possibly
with the best results. But there
scarcely was a suggestion of the
scratchings which the radio, for in.
stance, brings, and the silences were
not punctured by any noises whatso.
ever Although occasionally DR.. Sto.
| kowski turned on loud" too loud
and the soft sometimes was perhaps 6
| trifle too soft, the whole musical pres.
entation seemed as perfectl7 repro
duced as though the invisible orchestrs
had been at hand. and the lighting
arrangement on the stage prevented
the audience from having to look a
nothing"
Many prominent Washingtonian