The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-02
M U S / c

last was good tone and intonation,
well-graduated dynamics, clear at
tack and division, rubato-in short,
a musicianly job.
The high spot OF the musical pro-
gram was a very decent performance
Of Bach's Double Concerto for two
victims. This work contains first and
last movements of the conventional
type Of which the ViYaldi concerto
was specimen. Bach's greater
technical mastery made more Of
show, as well for the learned con-
trapuntist Of his day as for the peri
Wigged and beruffled survivors Of
feudalism whose commissions kept
musicians hanging on tenderhooks.
The content is irrelevant for us, how
ever, no matter how skilfuly it is
presented, and contrasts with the sec
ond, or slow, movement. Here is
serene joy, delicate, but Of immeas-
urable strength, one of the great her
itages Of the musical past. 1t be-
longs to all men. 1t transcends its
epoch, not only the material pro-
cesses that defined its style but also
the theological structure whose very
best side it presents. We have heard
this great work played many times
in the bourgeois concert halls and
salons, but never before with such
effect. Though played with ten times
the skill by Kreisler and Elman and
with accompaniment of the most
celebrated orchestras and conductors,
there was always present the feeling
Of standardized, acrobatic exhibition
ism, commodity paid for by the
gross wealth of idle sophisticates
whose presence in the audience
augured culture and conspicuous
leisure.
Workers! You who have been
starved out of this culture and leisure
by the crazy social structure that is
now breaking up before our eyes-if
you have ever wondered what all the
excitement about highbrow music
means and whether it could ever
mean anything in your lives-and
you, too, professional musicians and
lovers Of professional music You who
feel dazed and frustrated by the de-
bacle which modern music as well
as modern society finds itself in
come and hear this music played in
q workers club, where the players
and listeners and, often, the COM
posers too, are all bound together by
sympathy in a common cause, the
revolutionary movement that will free
them and their children from loath-
some bondage. For a moment, per-
hapS, you may realize what listening
to music n Russia must be. You may
perhaps see for yourself to what a
small extent the real experience of
music depends upon extreme virtuoS-
ity or grotesquely high pay or upon
certihcation by critics who assume a
capacity to judge effectively of mu-
steal values.
Composers and players give only
part of the music. The rest is given
by the audience-by the audience as
a whole. The members of an audi
ence cannot, as individuals, give this
in its entirety. Above all, music is a
social experience. There are some
things that an individual can DO only
when he is a member of a group, a
community A proper audience is not
a mere collection of individuals. It
can contribute its completion of the
musical process only when it possesses
within itself a unity of thought and
feeling in regard to things as whole.
Such a unity-a united front-im-
plies agreements concerning facts and
agreements concerning values or aims.
Only indirectly, by association, can
music give us facts. But directly, and
very directly, it gives us aims.
Music is propaganda always prop
aganda-and of the most powerful
sort. Dominant minorities have al
ways known this and have organized
music to serve their ends. But often
the musicians have circumvented the
central control. Many of the instances
in so doing are clearly recognizable.
The slow movement of the Bach
Double Concerto is one. It's radiant
love of humanity is an absolute con-
tradiction of the capitalist system.
Therefore it has value to the revolu-
tionary movement as has also Bee
thoven's Fifth Symphony, Moussorg-
sky's Boris and Stravinsky's Sacre.
But not all the old masterpieces
can be so acceptable! MSny are full
of the poisonous propaganda of
church, state, salon, barracks and
So We must pick and
choose. This is one of the most i'm
portant functions Of such club as
the Pierre Degeyter. Workers and
Give it your support by i
attendance. Good music
can be heard there at least once every
week for as little as Is or IS cents
a program. Unemployed are welcome
without charge or for 5 cents. Help
define and circulate revolutionary
music! 1t penetrates everywhere, it
carries words with it, it fixes them
in the mind and graves them in the
heart. 1t is powerful weapon in the
struggled
&C. S.