Evening star., 1950-07-03
By Alice Eyersmon

The Sesquicentennial Water
gate concert series by the Ma
tional Symphony Orchestra
opened last night with a gala att
.mosphere prevailing on the river
bank.
The colorfui Sesquicentennial
seal occupied the back wall of the
barge where formerly the Ameri-
can flag or. during the war, the
Victory symbol reminded the audi
ence of all the Sesqui celebration
stands for.
The audience was one of the
largest. Dorothy Maynor was the
soloist and the Sesquicente ntennial
Male Chorus made its debut in the
closing number Of the program.
The concert opened with Howard
Mitchell conducting audience and
orchestra in a dignif1ed perform
ance of ''The Star Spangled Ban
ner."
It seemed as If Miss Maynor's
unaccompanied singing of Were
You There When They Crucified
my Lord" as encore, was q bene-
diction on all the sentiments the
celebration signifies. For a long
minute, following the end of the
spiritual, she held off the applause
with her folded hands and q spirit
of prayer descended on her lis
teners. There is no other singer
who can sing this moving num-
ber with quite the same effect
and no program on which she ap-
peared would be complete without
it. In commemoration of Stephen
Fosters birthday. July 4. she
gave, also as encore and with
equal beauty of style and feeling.
his "Jeanie With the Light Brown
Hair"
In Excellent Voice.
Miss Maynor provided some of
the loveliest singing heard at the
Watergate in some time. She was
in excellent voice and its range
and evenness was displayed in
her first selection, the Come scog-
lilo" from Mozart's "Cosi fan tut
te." Never before has she shown
the rich. almost contralto quality
which she can produce as effort
lessly as the ringing high tones
present in the same aria.
Also outstanding was her deliv-
cry of the "Air de- Lila" from De-
bussy's 81 L,Enfant Prologue" which
surpassed any other performance
of the well-known number. Where
its dramatic plea on the high
notes has been too generally set
forth In fierce. loud tones. she
gave to it a proper softness. ex-
quisite in its import.
In a later group, starting off
with Villa-Lobos' notable Bach
ianas Brasileiras No., S." the ex-
pressive quality of voice, the SEN
sitive feeling and refinement of
style were all blended in an artistic
ensemble. Villa-Lobas' haunting
song is accompanied by eight Gel
los, with solo portions given the
leader and admirably played by
John Martin.
The first part Of the program
suffered from too strong amplifl-
cation, but it was toned down
after the intermission. The orches-
ira had its chief showing in the
beginning and although the vol.
ume came over sharp and loud,
the spirit of the performance was
animated.
Wards "Jubilation-An Over
ture" and Strauss der Rosen-
kavalier" suite were played with
effect in spite of the noisiness for
which Conductor Mitchell was
not responsible.
His directing was alert and care
full, achieving fine cooperation,
especially in the accompanimentS
for Miss Maynor.
Sentiment Brought Out.
Later. when the Sesquicenten-
nial Male Chorus sang Randall
Thompson's ''The Testament of
Freedom" the rare sentiment and
appropriate description that sup
ports the vocal part, or separates
it so tellingly, were expertly
brought out in his leadership.
Dressed in red, white and blue
robes, the chorus carried out the
nationalistic idea in its grouping
on the stage. Thompson's "Testa-
ment" was first performed locally |