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Music Clubs

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National Federation of Music Clubs
Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock, President

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Volume XLI

Number 2

Contents for Winter, 1961-62

President's Message 3

Calendar 32

Features

* 1962 Fall Session in Boise 5

* Opera Production in German Subsidized Theatre, by Ronald Mitchell 6

* Singers and Science, by William Vennard 8

* The Philosophy of Style, by Virgil Thomson 10

* Clara Schumann Club, Mobile, Alabama 12

* Time with the Master, by Diana Steiner 16

* National Music Week Report for 1961, by Mrs. Stanton Huber 18

* 1961 Alaska Festival 21

* Pittsburgh in 1963 21

* Claudette Sorel at U. of Kansas 21

* In Memoriam, Mrs. Edward J. Colgan 21

* Additions and Corrections, by Exie Burford 27

* Award to Hawaii 27

* Membership Extension Flash 27

* World's "March King" Honored 29

* NFMC Headquarters Moves 31, 32

Departments

* Notes, Quotes, Letters to the Editor 4

* Washington Apple Blossom Festival, Case History 13

* Texas Crusade for Strings, Case History 14

* Federation Composers 15

* Crescent Little Symphony, Greenville, South Carolina, Case History 16

* Welcome Notes for Life, Special Members, by Mrs. Ina Wooten Jones 20

* Junior Highlights, by Blanche Schwarz Levy 22

* TV-Radio-Films, by Quaintance Eaton 23

* Briefs 24, 25

* Student News, by Virginia Castoe Combs 26

* Book Reviews, by Quaintance Eaton 28

* Music Reviews, by Martha C. Galt 30

* Editor's Recital 32

* Young Composers Contest Back Cover

Dec. President's Message

# Preview: 1962
## in Pursuit of a Greater Musical America

AS we ring out the old year, we are aware of rising tensions and unrest in American musical circles. And that the basic long-range concept of the arts as an expendable luxury, considered thus by many, is being effected.

As we ring in the New Year, we sense that this present restiveness previews an IMPROVED CLIMATE FOR THE ARTS indicative of greater opportunities for building a Greater Musical America which has been the objective for this NFMC administration.

For us, professional musicians and music lovers, doubtless multitudinous factors will require our dynamic attention and guide our activities in 1962. Among them:

* The effect of the appointment (Dec. 15, 1961) of Harold Dean Cater as special consultant in the arts to the U.S. Office of Education by the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Sterling M. McMurrin. "To Mr. Cater has fallen the task of figuring out how the Office of Education can encourage schools and university officials to provide better programs in music, painting, drama, architecture, and other arts." Mr. McMurrin, a philosopher by education, holds firmly that "the survival of American democracy rests not only on science and technology but also on the extent to which its people foster and appreciate the human values embodied in the fine and liberal arts."

* The greater weight given to one's voice on TV and radio programs through the "overhaul of the airwaves" by the Chairman of Federal Communications Commission, Newton N. Minow. And the continued exploring of educational television and the potentialities of UHF (Ultra High Frequency) television and electronics.

* The Bill coming before Congress to establish a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts "as a clearing house for ideas and a focus for problems"; and the many other Bills effecting the welfare of music and musicians and our cultural development. These forecast lively consideration inasmuch as the First Session reflected a tremendous increase of interest in the arts, though given low priority as far as action was concerned, and though the support for the 40 art Bills in the First Session came from representatives of only thirteen states.

* The question of compensation for musical artists and of community, state, and/or federal aid to the arts as a "means to insure survival of music and musicians". And the reflection of the Labor Secretary's views: "We must come to accept the arts as a new community responsibility. The arts must assume their place alongside the already accepted responsibilities for health, education and welfare."

* The creation of the National Cultural Center* in our Nation's capitol to provide a showcase and incentive for the further development of the creative arts in the U.S. The funds, approximately $30 million, which would support the plan for three auditoriums (symphony, opera, and theatre) are to be raised in two ways. One: A closed-circuit telecast linking as many as 150 cities as a means for people of many backgrounds and geographical areas to participate with assistance to both this national project and their own local cultural development. Two: Voluntary contributions—the NFMC at the 1961 Convention authorized solicitation of funds at the appropriate time.

* Solutions to problems such as: How can music listeners be brought into the main stream of the American cultural development? How can music activities be made to flower in recreation? How can the community be encouraged to interest itself in the cultural being of its citizens as it does in their economic welfare? How can standard-setting machinery in the arts be established as it exists in the sciences? How can our own American music be given wider hearing, our artists more opportunities; and a musical life developed to which youth can aspire and upon which professional organizations can draw?

The NFMC, organization-wise, is commendably equipped to motivate into being and service a greater musical America. A most cordial invitation is hereby extended to visit NFMC Headquarters which is attractively relocated as of January 1, 1962, at 600 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. (Note details projected in the Editor's Recital in this Issue). Headquarters is well staffed and further keynoted to efficiency and progress. And our Organization has:

*Projects well designed within purpose and potentialities*
*Progress geared to attainment.*

We are on the mark for 1962 endued with a deepened sense of the ethnic force of art, its significance as educator, shaper, and liberator of the mind; an enlivened appreciation for the kind of life that a cultured society can live not as an acquired social habit but as a part of human rights in a civilized country. It is also with faith and courage will guided by the principle that success is dependent upon a proper balance between energy and talent, interest-span and ambition, and that mild competition, which is fundamental in our American way of life, is an effective stimulus for attainment.

A preview of 1962 indicates that we of the NFMC unitedly and in association with aligned music-organizations can pursue a GREATER MUSICAL AMERICA IN A VISION OF TRIUMPH.

Dorothy
Dann
Bullock

*President Bullock is a member of the Advisory Committee on the Arts for the National Cultural Center and was present at the November meeting of the Committee when these plans for 1962 were made.

Winter, 1961-1962

3

Notes A N
Quotes D Letters to the Editor

Rock-A-Bye Baby

You can never realize how much I appreciate the publishing of my letter of inquiry concerning "Rock-A-Bye, Baby" in *Showcase*. I received many answers, all most helpful, and Mrs. Wiggins, Chairman of the Maine Composers and their Music went all out in giving me very important data and a COPY OF THE SONG, which I prize more than I can express. I knew people were kind, but I did not realize how much one would do for a total stranger.

The president of our local Musical Arts Society requested me to tell the story to our members at our first fall meeting, October 4th, at which time we were hostess to the Northeast District Convention, of which I am historian, and so the District also has heard the story.

Many thanks to you for your thoughtfulness in publishing my letter. Mrs. O. R. Hisel, 408 South 15th St., Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Dear Mrs. Hisel:

Today I noticed your inquiry in *Showcase*, concerning the old song "Rock-A-Bye Baby." As my husband is a retired professor from the University of North Carolina and is one of the editors of the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, (Pub. by Duke University Press, Durham, N.C.), we have some references to the song in this collection and in our own library which we shall be glad to share with you.

In Vol. III of the Brown Collection, page 148, several references are given with text only, stating that it is an old English lullaby which seldom appears in collections of traditional folk song. Among the references given there are: Journal of American Folklore XLI, 500, Halliwell, *The Nursery Rhymes of England*, London, 1842.

Another book *The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes* edited by Iona and Peter Opie (Pub. by Oxford University Press, London) gives the text and several references and states that the age of both rhyme and the melody, which is a variant of "Lilliburlero," is uncertain. The story of the Pilgrim youth who went over in the Mayflower is mentioned there, and it states that it is said to be the first poem produced on American soil. Other American

authorities, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (1944) have seen it as a lampon on the British royal line in James II's time. In The Scots Musical Museum (1797) appears a nursery song "O Can Ye Sew Cushions" which Burns submitted. Nearly half a century later (1839) William Stenhouse said that he had heard a second verse of the ditty:

> I've placed my cradle on yon holly top,
> And aye as the wind blew, my cradle
> did rock; etc.

You may find the music (only melody) in "Twice 55 Community Songs," The Green Book, No. 2 (Pub. by C. C. Birchard & Co., Boston). In this collection, the name of Effie I. Canning is above the melody with a foot note that it is used by permission of Oliver Ditson Co., owners of the copyright. It may be that she has an arrangement of it. I haven't seen the Ditson version.

Dr. Schinhan and I are Special Members of the Federation of Music Clubs and are on the State Board in North Carolina. We are both very interested in folk music and we hope that this will be of some help to you.—Mrs. Jan. P. Schinhan, Kannapolis, North Carolina.

Dear Mrs. Hisel:

Regarding your letter in the Summer issue of *Showcase*, I have at hand two collections of songs which include "Rock-A-Bye Baby." The Robbins *Mammoth* collection of *Songs of the Gay Nineties* has an arrangement by Hugo Frey which makes no reference to the original composer. The *Golden Song Book*, published by Simon and Schuster is an excellent collection of children's songs. The arranger, Katherine Tyler Wessells, calls the words and tune "traditional," but she does not follow the traditional tune as my mother sang it to me and as Mr. Frey has it in the Robbins collection. The rest of her arrangements are very good, and the collection includes another lullaby, "Hush, My Babe, Lie Still in Slumber," that my mother used to sing to me and that I have never seen or heard anywhere else.

As I remember "Rock-A-Bye Baby" and as both Mr. Frey and Miss Wessells have it, the last line of the verse is: "And down will come baby, cradle and all."

I hope this information will be of assistance to you.—Malcolm Gibson, Midland, Texas.

Our Error

"Thank you very much for the Summer *Showcase*. I have found Mr. Breuer's story very interesting and hope your readers will get some information from it.

"There was one error in the caption of the picture. The picture of Professor Ussachevsky and myself is in a studio of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, but the background is not the RCA Sound Synthesizer. The caption should read 'Otto Luening, left, and Vladimir Ussachevsky, right, in a studio of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.'

"In any event we were very happy to have this article in your splendid magazine."—Otto Luening, Committee of Direction, The Electronic Music Center of Columbia and Princeton Universities.

Joey on Record

In the New York *American Weekly* of August 27, there appeared a story on "Those Special Children"—and among the children featured was our own Joey Alfidi, now 12, of Yonkers, New York. Joey, who has been hailed as a "second Mozart" by critics, composes, conducts, plays six instruments.

Now, Joey is presented on a record "Command Performance," recorded in the Palais de Beaux Arts as performed for Queen Elizabeth of Belgium with the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra. Joey both plays the piano and conducts, and there was not enough room on the record to include his eight encores. The record may be purchased from Jubilee Records, 318 West 48th Street, New York 36, New York.

What's in a Name!

From the October issue of *New Jersey Music and Arts*, we quote the following concerning Erick Friedman, violinist of West Orange, New Jersey. Mr. Friedman, a student of Jascha Heifetz, attended a recording session with Mr. Heifetz in London. He "had difficulty with the custom officials when he returned from London because he did not have his papers to prove that his Stradivarius was made in 1824 and therefore custom free. Hardly up

4

on things musical, the inspector groped for a $64,000 question that would provide a tell-tale clue as to Erick's authenticity. Suddenly he beamed and said triumphantly, 'Did you ever hear of Heifetz?' When Erick reached in his pocket and took out pictures taken at the recording session, the inspector waved Erick through with a flourish worthy of Leonard Bernstein."

## Salute from Showcase

Our appreciation to Mrs. C. E. Moore, Jr., President of Texas Sixth District. She is offering a cash award of $10 to the Club reporting the most new subscriptions to *Showcase* at the District Convention.

## MacDowell Medal to Copland

Aaron Copland received the 1961 second annual Edward MacDowell Association medal at MacDowell Colony in August. He also received a telegram from President John F. Kennedy which read: "I am delighted to learn that you will receive today a medal for distinguished service in the field of music from the Edward MacDowell Association. Your creative mind and imagination have been a significant force in the cultural life of this nation and of the world's community. It is most heartening that the ceremony is taking place at the MacDowell Colony which has provided for you and so many other American artists such a fine environment in which to pursue your work."

In his address Mr. Copland said: "It is terribly important for a country like ours to prove to the world that it can create works of art." He went on to say: "If we cannot create great works of music in this country, if we cannot set down in permanent form the inner core of our civilization, there is something wrong with America. We must convince the public that the creation of works of beauty is one of the most important tasks of man." ... "No real artist tries to be as good as some other man. He gives all he can in admiration to the accomplishments of the great whom he admires, then turns his back and becomes himself."

## Music Club Grant

Members of the Music Club of Kingsville, Texas, have cause for great rejoicing. Their Club is to receive a sum of $20,000 from the B. C. and Addie Brookshire Foundation, for the exclusive purpose of acquisition of land and the construction of a Club building. This grant will be available within five years from the date of death of the last survivor of the creators and settlers of the Foundation. The income from the basic million dollar trust fund will be used to combat

juvenile delinquency on a county-wide basis, with no racial discrimination allowed.

## In Memoriam

Sad news at presstime: We announce with deep regret that Mrs. Frederick B. Cohen, former NFMC Board Member from the state of Washington, passed away on December 3

## Opera for Women's Voices

NFMC Composer, Alice de Vecke Mitchell, has written a one-act 70-minute music drama planned primarily for women's music clubs (with 16-voice women's chorus). Premiered last summer at the Community Theater in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, "Love in a Bottle" is based on a 1957 true account of a romance between a boy and girl in different countries who met through a note cast into the sea in a bottle. Mrs. Mitchell wrote the book, music, and lyrics; and she will rent parts and score until the work is published. Her address is 1950 Beaufort Lodge Road, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

## Nadia Boulanger to Lead Orchestral Composers Symposium

Mlle. Nadia Boulanger will lead a Symposium for Orchestral Composers at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, on March 23-24-25, 1962, announces Dr. Henry Bruinsma, Director of the University's School of Music and NFMC Chairman of Cru- sade for Strings. The Symposium will feature three days of reading sessions of unpublished compositions played by a full symphony orchestra. Mlle. Boulanger has agreed to hold private conferences with each composer whose works have been selected for reading, and will also present a public lecture as part of the program.

Participation in the Symposium is open to all composers of orchestral music from the States of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The deadline for submitting scores is January 15, 1962. The Symposium is being presented under the sponsorship of the Ohio State University and the Great Lakes District of the National Federation of Music Clubs, comprising the States of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Composers from these States wishing to submit manuscripts may receive additional information and application forms by writing Dr. Henry Bruinsma, The Ohio State University School of Music, 1899 N. College Road, Columbus 10, Ohio.

## Thank-You's Needed

"As one of their special projects, the Morning Etude Club of Springfield,

Illinois gave a recording of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, Op. 30—'Romantic' to a local radio station in the hope that more interest can be aroused and that the serious contemporary composer can be heard and appreciated.

"One of our members had complained to a radio manager about the lack of good music coming over the air. His reply was 'We never get any thank-you's when we do play good music but the kids sure write us when we play their kind of music.'"—Mrs. Robert G. Seymour, Springfield, Illinois.

## More MacDowell Music

"The brief conversation we had in Kansas City concerning the unavailability of the works of Edward MacDowell has prompted us to plan the publication of collections of MacDowell works which will make his excellent material again available.

"At the present time the details are not completely worked out. Our plans, however, include one or two albums of the piano solo compositions, probably edited by an outstanding educator. While a few of the well-known and presently available works will be included, it is our plan to emphasize particularly those works which are no longer in print. The albums will be graded as far as possible so that, if there are two albums, the first will consist of less difficult works and the second of more difficult works.

"We are also contemplating the publication of the MacDowell songs. This project is not as far along as the piano one, but I think it will present no great problems when we have the opportunity to develop our plans.

"Our target date for publication will be the late fall. . . . As I told you, it is our desire to dedicate these books to the National Federation of Music Clubs for their activity for many years in stimulating interest in MacDowell's music and winning for him the recognition which he so well deserves and which finally resulted in his election to the Hall of Fame."—Leonard Feist, President, Associated Music Publishers, Inc., New York City.

## The 1962 Fall Session

**Host:** Idaho Federation of Music Clubs, Mrs. Paul B. Evans, President.

**General Chairman:** Mrs. Eli Weston
**Place:** Boise, Idaho

**Date:** September 11-14, Tuesday through Friday

**Headquarters:** Hotel Boise

Winter, 1961-1962

5

# OPERA PRODUCTION
*in the German Subsidized Theatre*

by Ronald Mitchell, Professor of Speech, Theatre Director,
University of Wisconsin, While on Leave for Study in Germany

THERE is plenty to see and hear. In a city of about 110,000 people, for example, the "Spielplan" for the month of March listed 41 performances of one sort or another, all in the Municipal Theatre except for a few visits to nearby small towns. Included were three plays, four operas, and three operettas; one of the plays was "Hamlet" and one of the operas "Der Rosenkavalier"—heavy undertakings both.

And this particular city is not

listed in the Saturday edition of "Die Welt" which displays the offerings of 64 theatres in 40 major cities of Western Germany. There are minor cities, too, and there is East Germany. The activity is staggering and the variety is enormous.

What of the quality? Some recent articles in American magazines have scoffed at the provincialism of many Germany productions. Of course they are provincial. Germany has only two capital cities. The surprising thing is, that with as many as 70 theatres performing opera, these provincial productions are as good as they sometimes are. It is difficult for American taste, geared as it often is to the "few hits—many flops—nothing in the middle" standards of Broadway, to adjust to the different standards of repertory on a wide national scale where there are even fewer hits, not nearly as many flops, and a very imposing middle.

"Mediocre" is an ugly word, and in this context it would be a grossly unfair one. Where there are 70 companies, it is obvious that 60 of them

cannot be in "the top ten." But some of the productions in some of the lesser companies can be remarkably good, just as some in the major companies can be disappointing.

One must of course be reasonable. An opera is to be seen as well as heard and it is no use developing unrealistic standards from one's prized collection of LP records so that nothing less than the best voices in the most velvety condition and cushioned by the world's finest orchestras will suffice. Those who have been seduced by high fidelity had better stay in their listening rooms and not risk the less rarefied atmosphere of the public theatres.

The author of a recent article in a well-known American magazine saw one performance at a municipal theatre in Germany, found it poor, and wondered why this theatre had any reputation at all. If he had attended the previous night, or a night later, his opinion based on one performance and therefore of little value, might have been quite different. Perhaps the most striking thing about German opera production is not that the quality tends to the middle but that standards vary so greatly from night to night and from production to production that you never know when you enter the theatre whether you are about to encounter the top of the middle or the bottom of the middle.

It is natural that the Germans are proud of their cultural recovery, to which the United States, in which one can travel a thousand miles without finding an opera company, contributed. It is possible that the Germans are over-ambitious, that 21 good performances in a month might be better than 41 somewhat mixed performances; but there is no denying the eagerness to possess a flourishing theatre.

Sixteen years after the war's end Germany uses dazzling new theatres, rebuilt old ones, uninjured old ones, and makeshift halls of every kind for its productions. In Hamburg,

A scene from "The Trial of Lucullus," an opera by Paul Dessau and Bertolt Brecht, given in the Mainz Stadtisches Theatre. Photo courtesy of Hanne Zapp, Mainz.

6

Cologne, Mannheim and Gelsenkirchen, to name only four cities, there are striking modern theatres. Munich and West Berlin are in the process of building. East Berlin has rebuilt the "Unter den Linden" opera house in the original eighteenth century style. Munich has done the same with the tiny rococo Residenz theatre. Frankfurt's "Kleine Bühne" is simply a square space in a bank building with an improvised stage. In the Darmstadt "Orangerie" one can hear the orchestra tuning up *behind* the curtain and see the stage, whether lighted or not, during the overture. Würzburg's opera is temporarily housed in an inadequate hall resembling an American grade school auditorium.

It is startling to hear a professional orchestra tearing into the opening bars of "Die Macht des Schicksals" ("La Forza del Destino") in such unpromising surroundings, see a high-school curtain drawn jerkily aside, and then hear a large-voiced and fairly steady soprano embark on Leonora's arduous role, to be shortly joined by an exciting, young and well-built tenor.

It is equally startling to sit in a beautiful, reconstructed eighteenth century theatre, hear the conductor pause after the introduction to Leporello's opening lines, wait for latecomers, repeat the introduction, and then throughout the evening be obliged by clumsy staging to pause lengthily between all the scenes, the final one showing a colossal statue at the rear of the stage while the Don, 40 feet away with his back to it, writhes in the stony grip.

It is disconcerting to find greatly differing standards in the various departments of the same production, for example, a performance of "Der Rosenkavalier" in which the singing varied from good to excellent, with the orchestra clearly having occasional difficulties but rising to most of the strenuous occasions, and with such abysmal stage direction that the Hairdresser became the leading actor throughout the levée scene and one chorus member distracted attention during the bulk of the second act, competing with Baron Ochs and even staying through the entire Ochs-Annina scene. To make things even more confusing, this production was from the same company which produced an inventive and original "La Bohème" and a re-

markably effective "Wozzeck."

An American attending the opera is first impressed, perhaps, by the great amount of trouble taken with the technical staging. Even for a production appearing only once or twice in the season, the settings rarely look shoddy. They have obviously been carefully stored or re-painted and the floor designs are sometimes magnificent. There is a tendency to overdo certain fads. A theatre with a revolving stage sometimes overuses it. There is a current fondness for scrim walls with enough light in the rear so that one can see the actors before they enter and after they exit. This can produce some interesting results in "The Magic Flute," but seems inappropriate to "The Marriage of Figaro."

A second look at the costumes in some theatres reveals that in spite of city and sometimes state aid there is a budget and someone is watching it closely. Some productions are splendidly costumed while others, by the same company, use cheap looking materials which apparently came even cheaper by the bolt. An "Aida" with an inordinate amount of white sheeting called unnecessary attention to financial corner-cutting.

Lighting varies as surprisingly. An unpretentious small theatre will do a first-rate job of a complicated work while a more pretentious theatre will feebly chase the moving singers with "follow spots," catching them just as they move off into a darkened area. Singers have so

much to think about that the further responsibility of chasing the spot that is chasing them is understandably more than some of them can manage. Undoubtedly there is too little rehearsal time; and too much is left to the improvisations of the operator in the light booth.

Stage directors seem to run the gamut from the admirably sensible through nervous cleverness of the "be as different as possible" school to the old-fashioned "let the singers line up and do anything that occurs to them" approach.

Among the excellent and sensible out of between 70 and 80 productions, I would include the staging of "Wozzeck" in Mainz, the new production of "The Prince of Hamburg" in Frankfurt, "Pagliacci" and "Gianni Schicchi" in Nürnberg (the comedy under the direction of Willi Domgraf-Fassbänder, a familiar name to early Glyndebourne enthusiasts), the Komische Oper production of "Turandot" in East Berlin, and "Der Freischütz" in Cologne. In all these the vocal standards varied considerably and a radio listener would have turned at least three of them off, but they were productions and they were all of a piece.

In contrast, the desperate cleverness of Frankfurt's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "The Italian Girl in Algiers" displayed a lack of faith in the musical and dramatic values of the operas, both of which are lively works needing

*(Continued on page 9)*

Act two of "La Bohème," in the Mainz Stadtisches Theatre. Photo courtesy of Hanne Zapp, Mainz.

Winter, 1961-1962

7

SINGERS
AND
SCIENCE

by William Vennard

SINGERS have always possessed empirical knowledge of voice far beyond what the scientist could explain objectively. Just as people swam long before Archimedes discovered the laws of buoyancy, so singers did not wait for information to precede experience. They were doing things no one could describe scientifically, and they had subjective knowledge of certain experiences which were actually unknown to the scientist, unless he happened to be a singer himself, which was and still is rare.

A few singers and teachers of singing of the “Golden Age” attempted to verbalize their knowledge in scientific terms, but this was unsatisfactory, partly because of the inadequacy of the existing scientific findings and partly because the singers were not disciplined in scientific thought and expression. The majority in the vocal profession has always preferred to verbalize in figures of speech which describe the subjective experience of voice production. This presents a semantic problem in which no one can be absolutely sure communication is taking place. If two singers (or a teacher and his pupil) are sympathetic, they agree that the imagery describes accurately a common ex-

perience. If not, they can argue bitterly over phraseology that has no literal meaning anyhow. To the outside, even though he be a musician, the whole thing is utter nonsense and he is only too ready to believe that all singers “have resonance where their brains ought to be,” to quote Anna Russell.

In mid-nineteenth century, a great voice teacher, Manuel Garcia, dabbled in science long enough to get a good look at his own vocal cords. Until that moment the scientific world had considered it impossible. Garcia gave a rather accurate description of what is to be seen in a singer's throat, and may be said to have inaugurated the age of scientific voice training. However, he soon admitted that even a major scientific triumph like the invention of the laryngoscope was not enough to implement voice pedagogy adequately.

Since that day continuous verbal warfare has raged between the “scientific teachers,” who claim detailed objective knowledge of technic and who teach by specific mechanistic instructions, and the “psychological teachers” who decry “local effort” and who direct all their pedagogy to the personality of the student, trying to elicit a “total response” in the direction of “what nature intended.”

Some teachers respect both camps, but find themselves in a no-man's-land in which they are shot at from both sides. To illustrate: I not too long ago returned from a sabbatical year in one of the leading laryngology laboratories (that of Dr. Jan-willem van den Berg at the Univer-

sity of Groningen) and also visited several other international authorities on laryngeal physiology. The question usually put to me by my colleagues is, “Well, what did you learn?” I know the implication of the question. Did I learn any sure-fire tricks by which a pupil can be made to sing well in less time than usual?

I reply, “I think they brought me up to date on laryngeal physiology. I probably know about as much as anyone knows now about what happens in the voice-box.” One colleague's face falls, and I can almost hear him say, “What good will *that* do?” Another colleague's face lights up, and I can almost hear him say, “Just as I thought, I'm glad I didn't waste a year of *my* time that way!”

Both of these teachers, while belonging to opposite camps, are making the same mistake of failing to distinguish between basic research and applied science. All applied science depends upon basic research. It grows from a non-utilitarian love of truth, a profound curiosity whose goal is knowledge rather than gimmicks. It implies a willingness to examine every straw in the haystack whether there is a needle to be found or not—though of course needles *are* found exactly this way.

I still follow much the same procedures in my studio as I did before, but I think I am now more intelligent and hence more efficient because I have a more exact concept of what I am trying to achieve and why each method is successful. The more I relate my subjective experiences as a singer (and my experiences of empathy with my students) to scientific information—however inconclusive—the more I am building a body of knowledge which is objectively oriented and can be shared by the entire profession.

Knowledge of voice physiology today is admittedly incomplete, but it is considerable and it is growing. It is possible now to explain objectively a great deal that formerly voice teachers knew only subjectively, and we owe it to ourselves and our profession to learn these facts. How much scientific data should be imparted to the student is a matter of debate. It depends, doubtless, upon the individual student, and I lean to the opinion that no inquiring mind was ever damaged by truthful answers. As far as

* William Vennard is Chairman of the Voice Department, School of Music, University of Southern California, and Vice-President of National Association of Teachers of Singing. During his seven-month stay in Holland he gave four lectures in the medical school of the University of Groningen and also appeared before a medical congress at the University of Utrecht. Since returning, he has lectured on voice, science and pedagogy in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas.

8

the teacher is concerned, certainly, there is no reason for smugness about ignorance. A pupil has the right to expect a teacher to know what he is talking about.

Not many music teachers have the time, training, or temperament for research. Research, indeed, is a profession of itself. But unless the pedagogical profession will at least take the trouble to learn the vocabulary and become abreast of the times, researchers can hardly be expected to carry forward the kind of study from which practical applications will emerge. The scientist scarcely even knows the questions the voice teacher wants answered, and the voice teacher should be willing at least to learn how to ask.

As we have become more objectively oriented and more factual in our reports, we teachers of singing have emerged from the status of a medieval guild into that of a modern profession. Instead of passing "secrets" from teacher to pupil by personal contact, we share a body of knowledge that is already much greater than outsiders realize, but should become even more definitive. Such organizations as the American Academy and the National Association of Teachers of Singing have already made a good start in assembling and disseminating up-to-date information and ideas.

All the implementation is now within our reach. Science has provided data on physiology, numerous technics for further investigation (such as the Fastax camera, the stroboscope with Delta-f Generator, the X-ray image intensifier, electromyographic equipment) and also convenient and relatively inexpensive recording facilities whereby the sounds described by one teacher may be heard by all and can also be analyzed acoustically and actually transformed into visual charts.

The future dignity of the profession will depend upon our adjustment to these opportunities. As long as our vocabulary is subjective, any charlatan can declare himself in. No qualifying examinations can be given in subjective knowledge. One man's figure of speech is as valid for him and his pupils as another man's. For this reason, if a teacher of singing wishes to achieve academic status today, he must do so in some related field. If he is a fine pianist, his colleagues in a music

school recognize it. This qualifies him as a coach but has no bearing whatever on his ability to build a voice or to correct vocal faults. Similarly a teacher of singing may qualify as a linguist or as a musicologist with a wide knowledge of repertoire. All these things are desirable, but beside the point. These disciplines should be offered the singer only upon a foundation of correct vocal technic. But as I talk with music administrators, I get the strong feeling that they question whether it is even possible to teach a student how to produce his voice more beautifully. The teacher who specializes in helping a singer improve upon his natural endowment is regarded with skepticism.

No one regards a qualified speech therapist as a quack. I believe it is because the speech correctionist has taken a thorough course of accredited study which included the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract. Many a speech therapist is a Gestalt psychologist who shuns mechanistic procedures, but he does not feel entitled to ignore the mechanism until after he has studied it. Teachers of singing may profit by this example.

## Opera Production

*(Continued from page 7)*

no extravagant handling to make them entertaining. The opening scene of "The Merry Wives" exhibited several characters scrubbing themselves in movable bathtubs after which several more made their entrance on a trolley car. In "The Italian Girl," instead of the departure by ship, the leading characters climbed a rope ladder into a balloon and remained in suspension for the finale.

Among the inept and pedestrian productions, one "La Traviata" in Mainz must be mentioned. Violetta seemed angry about something all evening and in the last act she did not sing "Addio del passato." Maybe that is what she was angry about. Also at the bottom of the list was a heavy-footed "The Marriage of Figaro" in the Deutsche Oper in East Berlin.

The most gratifying thing about opera production in Germany is that it is there and in enormous quantity. If the quality is unpredictable there is always the chance of being delighted by a theatre's enthusiastic

production of an opera one does not often have a chance to see and hear, for example Haydn's "The World in the Moon" at Gelsenkirchen, Handel's "Julius Caesar" in Frankfurt, Gluck's "Iphigenia in Aulis" in Regensburg and his "Iphigenia in Tauris" in West Berlin, Krenek's "Leben des Orest" in Wiesbaden, Janácek's "Jenufa" in Darmstadt, and Martinu's "Mirandolina" in Mainz.

Even in a production which does not hang together there is the possibility of hearing good orchestral playing, of hearing good singing, often from singers one has not previously encountered, of seeing good acting, of observing a designer's ingenuity in settings or in costumes, or of noting a director's inventiveness in handling the eternal problem of arranging stage positions so that the participants can act and sing at the same time.

With such pleasures to anticipate one can tolerate the "Rheingold" Wotan who never turns his back to the audience at any time even when listening to others addressing him lengthily from the rear; one can bear with the German tendency to let the clowns overact; and one can endure imitation Bayreuth settings and ponytailed Walküren. The next production may be the best of all.

John Neuman, eminent church leader, is known to have said that the church was founded to interfere with the world.

Winter, 1961-1962

9

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Salute to American Composers

the philosophy of
STYLE

by
Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson

GUILLAUME DUFAY, applying for the post of composer-in-residence to Lorenzo de'Medici, stated as a qualification that he was able to write music in all the known styles. Mozart boasted similarly that he could master any style of composing inside of a week. These anecdotes merely mean that the Western tradition has long admitted stylistic variety. It has also always admitted within itself a certain duality—that, for instance, of a noble discourse, sustained, complex, and void of low references, and a familiar or commonplace style, easy-going, loose, jolly, and, if need be, vulgar. Our tradition further provides, and has offered throughout Western musical history for every epoch, both a diatonic and a chromatic style, our own chromatic style today being serial dodecaphony, i.e., 12-tone row composition. Our Western tradition, in short, like many another, is not really a unit, unless so viewed, and erroneously, from the outside—from East Asia, shall we say.

In the last century, we have added to the class distinction of noble vs commonplace an awareness of geographic and ethnic differences. Travel, musical ethnography, and recording have rendered available to composers a great variety of stylistic usages. So has the analytic study of our own past epochs. We are nowadays very history-minded.

As a result of all this diversified knowledge, Western music presents now very little basic unity of style. Musical materials are chosen by each composer for each work to accord with his expressive intent or its occasion. Sometimes, too, they are chosen for facilitating his career, like a trademark. Sometimes they are employed quite disinterestedly as a sort of remedial hygiene for rejuvenating the tradition itself.

In today's free music (that which is not submissive to liturgical or to social demands), no material or syntax is nobler than another, though the music of ethnic recall certainly appeals to all of us through nostalgia, and music that evokes industrial organization or, in some cases, mathematical research, will deeply excite others. The lack of a clear norm, of any real procedural urgency, makes Western music today seem tired, worn thin. Apparently it needs to be either rejuvenated or buried.

Today's rejuvenating efforts are chiefly three:

One of these efforts, that which is the most current among composers who wish to conserve the tonal language of our great masters, is to extend the practice of counterpoint to include simultaneous use of different chords and

different keys (the technical word for this is polyharmony) and to add also to musical usage a counterpoint of contrasted rhythms (the words describing such practice being *polyrhythm* and *polymetrics*). These devices do not destroy the classical syntax; they merely add complexity to the sound of it. From Darius Milhaud to Elliott Carter such practices have been continuous.

Another effort toward conserving the language of the masters is represented by these composers who work toward abandoning the tempered scale and restoring to musical custom truer pitch relations among the tones of any scale than are commonly observed nowadays. Now since abandoning the tempered tuning of instruments means abandoning in large part both modulation and complex chords, this effort represents a simplification of classical syntax for the purpose of improving musical sound, of making it more agreeable to hear and more directly expressive. Lou Harrison and Peggy Glanville-Hicks may be mentioned as deeply involved with this effort toward purification.

Their movement touches on a third one through its preoccupation with melodious tunings; that is a cross-breeding of Western style with one of the great Asiatic traditions—the music of India, for instance, or that of ancient China and Japan. French composers are more attracted to India, the Americans toward the music of Japan, China, and Korea. And the composers of Asian countries who work in the Western manner often essay to conserve in their product some important element of their own idiom. On both sides there is a hope that cross-pollenizing of one tradition by another may produce a stronger music than either. There are historical precedents for such an expectation.

So much for conservation.

The efforts being made just now toward destroying the classical tradition and making it possible perhaps to bury all that for good are also, I think, three in number.

These would be: one, the serialization of all music's variables, by which I mean multiple-row composition—the use of duration rows, loudness rows, tone-color rows, the submission of every musical aspect to a pre-determined order utterance—as in certain works by Pierre Boulez.

Two, the employment of random choice in handling all these variable elements, an innovation of John Cage. This seems like the opposite of ordered utterance, but is really just the substitution of chance for fatality. Actually both methods aim at de-humanizing musical expression.

There is also a third method aimed at destroying the humane tradition of music writing. This is electronic composition, a method which has no necessary attachment to the use of scales or of standard musical instruments.

• Mr. Thomson writes us that this article is in essence the message he gave in Tokyo at the 1961 East-West Music Encounter.

10

There are two styles of composition that seem to me unintentionally destructive. One is the ordinary twelve-tone-row style used by Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils. The other is pure rhythmic composition, whether carried out with standard percussion instruments or with casually chosen noise sources such as glass jars, electric buzzers, and automobile brake-bands.

The first of these, the simple serialization of tones, appears on the surface to fit as an innocent adventure in chromaticism; but by its unavoidable involvement with tempered scales and its training of instrumentalists always to play these, it delays the restoration of true tuning as a musical reform and even jeopardizes the survival of today's modicum of true intervals in the performance of classical music. Twelve-tone music does not refine the ear; it falsifies it. And autonomous rhythmic composition, though it seems at first to add to music a new dimension, in the end washes out all scales, modes, and intervals by making them unimportant and leads inevitably to mere noise-composition, which is for music a descent from the higher ground of acoustically based tonal relations. Hence this too is destructive of the tonal tradition.

Is there any way of equilibrating and coordinating all these efforts now being made sincerely in music's behalf? Can we amalgamate them into a classical 20th-century style? I doubt it. Amalgamation of the conservation efforts has already taken place. It shows up in all our conservative music. And coordinating the destruction efforts seems clear too in the groupings of the musical left, at least insofar as destruction is the urgent thing. But I do not see how one can both restore and destroy. A falling cathedral can be shored up with its own stones and some iron. Or it can be blown up and carted away, leaving place for a new one. At Salamanca, in Spain, the 15th-century builders did have the sense to leave a fine 10th-century Romanesque cathedral standing and to build their flamboyant Gothic one beside it—a case of tact rare in the history of styles.

I am hopeful of a similar solution of today's conflict between the Western and the Oriental traditions. Given today's constant musical frequentations, the fusible elements of both traditions will certainly fuse. To my Japanese colleagues who find themselves involved with Western music, my advice has long been to make that involvement complete, even if that should mean handing over the conservation of Japan's traditional art to other musicians. They need not write into every piece, "Made in Japan." When Japanese workmanship and Japanese expressivities arrive at integration, they will be as clearly visible for what they are, surely, as in the West are French or German characteristics.

Western composers, moving about the world of exotic tastes and unfamiliar methods, rarely make so grave a commitment as Asians today must make. They are not really changing their musical language anyway; they are refreshing it and clarifying it through contact with other idioms. The Western musical language permits that. Others do not.

In the long run, of course, every composer, especially in the West, aspires not only toward the mastery of many styles but also toward that mysterious quality known as, in the singular, style itself. Style in this sense can exist anywhere, because it is simply carrying power. It appears by miracle whenever a piece of music contains at one and the same time an accurate evocation of something along with intrinsic auditory interest. This latter any musician can recognize; it is wholly independent of the work's evocation, or message.

I use the word evocation because all music is an evocation, a calling forth, the reproducing by auditory device of some inner or outer reality. When such evocation (or

invocation) is structurally sustained, the miracle becomes not only convincing but dependable for repeating.

The whole story of miraculous power, for style in the singular is exactly that, is told in the following bit from Shakespeare:

> One fellow boasts, "I can call spirits from the vasty deep". The other replies, "Ah, so can I, but will they answer me".

## About Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson, composer, conductor, critic, and author was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 25, 1896. He was educated in the Kansas City public schools; received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1922; and took advanced musical studies with Gebhard, Davison, Hill, Clifton, Goodrich, and Scalero, and in Europe with Nadia Boulanger. He lived in Paris from 1925 until 1932. And he was Music Critic for the *New York Herald Tribune* during the years 1950 to 1954.

**Honors:** Member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; Officer de la Legion d'Honneur; Doctor of Fine Arts (hon.), Syracuse University, 1949; Litt. D. Rutgers, 1956.

**Works:** Operas: "Four Saints in Three Acts" (1928) and "The Mother of Us All" (1947). Ballet: "Filling Station" (1937). For Orchestra: two Symphonies (1928 and 1931), "Nine Portraits" (1944), "Three Pictures" ("The Seine at Night" 1947, "Wheat Field at Noon" 1948, "Sea Piece with Birds", 1948). Cello Concerto (1949). Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion. "Five Songs from William Blake." Six Suites from ballets and films. For Chorus: two Masses; many short pieces, Chamber Music: Three String Quartets, "Sonata de Chiesa" (for five instruments, 1926). Violin Sonata (1930). Flute Sonata: "Serenade for Flute and Violin." "Four Songs from Thomas Campion" (mezzo-soprano, clarinet, viola, and harp). Music for Plays. Organ works, songs, and piano pieces (including two volumes of "Piano Etudes" and five volumes of "Piano Portraits").

Mr. Thomson also wrote music for three United States Government documentary films: "The Plough that Broke the Plains" (1936), "The River" (1937), "Tuesday in November" (1945). He also wrote music for Robert Flaherty's "Louisiana Story" (1948) and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for the score.

**Author of Books:** "The State of Music," 1939; "The Musical Scene," 1945; "The Art of Judging Music," 1948; "Music Right and Left," 1951.

Mr. Thomson, a member of ASCAP since 1945, makes his home in New York City.

## U.S. MUSIC CALENDAR - 1962

* Covers Symphony, Opera, Ballet, Choral, Recitals, Jazz, Folk Music, Band Performances, etc.

* Gives event, sponsor, city, date, conductor

* Ideal for music lovers, musicians, travelers, reference, libraries, travel agents.

Each $2.00; Order from
The President's Music Committee
People-to-People Program
734 Jackson Place • Washington 6, D.C.

## ENJOY MUSIC ON STERLING TOURS

Music ... Art ... People ... Sights

3 Sterling Tours, 35-58 days, Summer 1962

* EUROPE $831

* ORIENT $1005
* WORLD $1622, plus airfare

Led by experienced American educators.
FREE FOLDER: Specify "Europe" or "Pacific"

DR. STERLING WHEELWRIGHT

S. F. State College

San Francisco 27-MC, Calif.

Winter, 1961-1962

11

The Clara Schumann Club, Mobile, Alabama

Oldest living member, Mrs. A. E. Brown, was admitted to membership by audition on March 9, 1896, and is still an active member. This picture was taken in January, 1959.

ACCEPTANCE FOR MEMBERSHIP

National Federation of Musical Clubs

Southern Middle SECTION

State Alabama

City Mobile

Name Clara Schumann

Date March 27, 1899,

Total Number of Members 5-8

Amount of decs 2.90

Directors

FOR 67 years a love of good music, the willingness to work, and the encouragement of musical growth have been the steady downbeats in the tempo of the Clara Schumann Club. Within its first year, in 1894, a successful audition became necessary for election to active membership. It still is.

On March 9, 1895, Mrs. A. E. Brown, now over 90, auditioned as a pianist and was accepted. Today she is the oldest active member, performing as recently as 1959. Her devotion typifies that of many other members. Interest in music is often a family affair, and there is in the records one instance of three-generation membership-mother, daughter, and grandmother. There are at least five other instances of mother and daughter or daughter-in-law memberships recorded also.

The Clara Schumann Club held its first formal meeting on January 6, 1894, at the residence of Mrs. Duke Goodman. An election gave offices to the following: Mrs. Duke Goodman, President, Mrs. Erwin Craighead, Vice President, Mrs. James W. Fitzpatrick (later Mrs. J. R.

Hagan), Secretary, and Mrs. Palmer Gaillard, Treasurer.

Minutes of the first meeting show charter members as Mrs. Goodman, Mrs. Craighead, Mrs. Fitzgerald (Hagan), Mrs. Gaillard, Mrs. J. W. Cox, Mrs. W. S. Anderson, Mrs. Peter Hamilton, Mrs. O. H. Crampton, Miss Ella Whiting, Miss Janie Berney, and Miss Julia McPhillips. Miss Mabel Heustis was elected to membership at this meeting.

Early minutes list Mrs. Goodman as being a prime mover in organizing the club, but Mrs. Hagan is remembered and honored as being the actual founder-her modesty and office of secretary allowing her to give much credit to another.

During the first few months the club suffered from several resignations, a death in the family of one of the members, and the prolonged illness of the President. Balancing these misfortunes were the direction of the Vice President, Mrs. Craighead, and election of a number of new members. Soon the membership reached and was limited to 16 players and divided into four quarters. Piano quartet work was the chief interest of the club at this time.

At the invitation of the St. Cecelia Chorus, a sister club of vocalists, the two organizations presented a joint concert in April, 1894, at the German Relief Hall. In the fall of 1894 after a public rehearsal there is in the minutes a quotation from a current issue of the *Musical Courier* concerning the importance of nuances. And this is followed by the remark: "If the club would remember this I think the fortissimo would not predominate in our next rehearsal."

Within the next few years the active membership was increased to 25 plus 40 newly organized associate members including a number of men. This larger membership made possible renting a hall for twice-weekly practice on two pianos and frequent small concerts. Solo singers and instrumentalists other than pianists were also elected to active membership. Miss Minnie F. Black served as the paid director for many seasons.

As long as the St. Cecelia Chorus was in existence, the two clubs gave joint concerts and brought artists at divided risks, paying quite large guarantees. Miss Ellen Beach Yaw was the first joint venture, then William A. Sherwood with a vocal quartet. The Alice Verlet Company was brought by the Schumann Club alone, then G. B. Perry three times, Leonora Jackson twice, Mrs. Catherine Whipple Dobbs, and others.

During the Spanish-American War, band instruments were supplied to the Second Alabama Regiment by the club. At the war's end the instruments were given to the First Infantry, Alabama National Guard, Mobile, Alabama.

1895 brought membership in the Alabama Federation of Woman's Clubs to be continued until 1959. Affiliating with the National Federation of Musical Clubs in 1899, the club has retained its membership in the national organization, which was subsequently renamed National Federation of Music Clubs.

Sometime after the death of Mrs. Hagan in 1933, the Schumann and Browning Clubs, both founded by her, joined in having designed the Kate Gardner Hagan Memorial Cup. It is given alternately by the two clubs to a Mobile city or county club for the year's outstanding work on projects sponsored by the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

Over the years, fund-raising concerts to aid other organizations have included a war relief concert in 1921 and several to benefit the Mobile Public Library.

(Continued on page 13)

12

Case History

THE Wenatchee Ladies Musical Club of Wenatchee, Washington, spearheaded the presentation of two performances of "Rosalinda," the American stage adaptation of the Johann Strauss operetta "Die Fledermaus," as a part of the 42nd annual Washington State Apple Blossom Festival in Wenatchee, "Apple Capital of the World."

In announcing the decision of the Festival Executive Committee to include the musical as a part of the Festival program, Director General Donald M. Kirby said, "It is with great pleasure that we announce that 'Rosalinda' will be a part of the 1961 Apple Blossom Festival. We feel that this production gives added depth and a new cultural dimension to the Apple Blossom Festival and will help us further our purpose of offering something for everyone at the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival."

The Washington State Apple Blossom Festival is the nation's original blossom festival and the oldest civic celebration in the State of Washington. It has been held each year since 1920 and has grown from a single day of songs and speeches to a three-day event which includes dances, exhibits, art, car and horse shows, scientific and cultural displays, and two major parades.

The growth of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival is closely associated with the Wenatchee Ladies Musical Club, as the club suggested, organized, and sponsored the first Festival, which was then known as "Blossom Day." As the Festival increased in size and scope, the Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce took over its sponsorship, but the Ladies Musical Club has continued to take an active part in Festival activities.

All singers, actors, dancers, and orchestra members for "Rosalinda" are residents of the Greater Wenatchee area and are donating their talents for this production. Proceeds from the production are ear-marked for a fund to build a civic center and auditorium in the City of Wenatchee. It is hoped that this production will be the nucleus of a permanent community musical theatre and that the community orchestra will grow into a Wenatchee Symphony in which many of the 90 children now taking string instrument instruction in the city's public schools will someday play. The youngsters are receiving the string

Mrs. W. Clair Van Divort, President of the Wenatchee Ladies Musical Club, discusses staging problems of "Rosalinda," with members of the production staff. Left to right are: Keith Sexson, general director; Mrs. Van Divort; Dr. George Bower, director of the Wenatchee Community Orchestra; and Bob Rowe, set designer.

instruction in the elementary schools as a result of the Wenatchee Ladies Musical Club's participation in the "Crusade for Strings" nationwide National Federation of Music Clubs movement to increase the number of musicians playing string instruments.

Mrs. W. Clair Van Divort, President of the Wenatchee Ladies Musical Club, acted as liaison between the production and the Apple Blossom Festival executive committee. On the production staff were: Keith Sexson, general director; Dr. George Bower, director of the Wenatchee Community Orchestra; Earl Norwood, choral director; Joan Shelton, who devised her own original ballet interpretations especially for this production; Mrs. W. N. Evans, who acted as an assistant to Mrs. Shelton and in an advisory capacity; Mrs. Joy Arch, in charge of technical aspects of the production; and Mrs. Joan Fadden, who will assist in dialogue rehearsals.

Dates of the 42nd annual Washington State Apple Blossom Festival were Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 4, 5 and 6. "Rosalinda" was presented Friday evening, May 5, and at a matinee performance on Saturday, May 6.

Clara Schumann Club (Continued)

The Clara Schumann Club has sought always to be musically progressive. Contemporary compositions have often been featured and especial recognition given to Alabama and local composers. Of the 219 composers represented in the past 10 years, 25 have been from Alabama, 45 American, and at least 9 living now or at one time in Mobile. Yearbooks shows an all-Gershwin program in 1947, DeFalla in 1932, Aaron Copeland in 1959, Samuel Barber in 1953, and Hageman in 1949.

A few of the subjects around which the worthy programs have been built have been: Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Russian, English, Latin-American, Negro, and Jewish; also women composers; Shakespeare set to music; folk music; sacred works; Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, original piano duets, Mozart, Bach; all-Alabama composers; and opera.

For the past several years, seven meetings and one

public concert have made up the club year. The monthly study and interpretive programs are chiefly for the membership although the public is always welcome. The consensus committee plans the programs around a central theme and makes suitable assignments to the individual members. The traditional piano quartet pens the January birthday concert in which one or more guest artists are invited to perform. A music committee is responsible for this concert which is free.

The active membership consists of 16 pianists and 14 vocalists. There are 24 associate members. The club is sustained by dues.

Several scholarships to the summer music camp of the University of Alabama have been awarded to high school students in recent years.

In the preliminary stages are plans with another organization for sponsoring a junior piano club.

Present officers are: Mrs. Donald West, President, Miss Patricia Fitzsimmons, Vice President, Mrs. John Allison, Secretary, and Mrs. John G. Fay, Treasurer.

Winter, 1961-1962

13

Case History

Texas Crusade
for Strings

ONE of the most exciting and rewarding musical programs on the Texas scene takes place through the close cooperation of the Allegro Music Club of Lubbock, Texas, The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, and the Lubbock Public School System.

The three organizations have joined their facilities and their talents to provide annually a Youth Concert during the early springtime, under the Allegro Music Club's sponsorship in conjunction with the public schools. The orchestra, an all-volunteer 95-member ensemble conducted by William A. Harrod, gives its services for the afternoon concert, held at the break of the school day.

The concerts, which were begun under Allegro Music Club Sponsorship in 1952, are designed for students of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades; and the children are admitted to the program for a 50¢ admission charge.

In a tie-in with preparations for the concert each year, the schools offer instruction and information on instruments of the orchestra and the building of the orchestra, as well as brief, informative illustrations and background material on the music to be included on the program.

An example of the program fare which is included in the 45-minute program is found in the 1960 listing, which included the "Zampa Overture" by Herold; the "Slavonic Dance No. 1" by Dvorak; "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson; the Intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" by

Mascagni; the Galop from "The Comedians" by Kabalevsky, and Themes from "Marche Slav" by Tschaikovsky.

In addition, Conductor Harrod each year includes on his program a narrated novelty in the "Peter and the Wolf" vein, which has proven most popular. In 1960 the Narrator was Dr. John Anderson, coordinator of music for the Lubbock Public Schools, who chose Benjamin Britten's delightful, informative "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," based on a Theme by Purcell.

While the Allegro Music Club assumes the financial obligation of the concert, the student admissions have produced a growing revenue, despite the economy of the price. The money which is realized from these concerts is divided between the Allegro Music Club and the Lubbock Public Schools. The school system then devotes its share of the proceeds toward the purchase of string instruments for the school's music education program, while the Allegro Music Club utilizes its funds to sponsor an annual "Appreciation Dinner" for the 95-member orchestra upon the conclusion of its regular four-concert season, running from October through April each year. Orchestra members, wives, guests and friends are included in the guest list and dinners are held amid beautifully-decorated rooms at a city country club. In 1961 a reception honored Mr. Arthur Fiedler following his appearance with the symphony; and later the Appreciation Dinner was given for the Orchestra.

The growth of these Youth Concerts can best be emphasized by citing the fact that prior to 1960 concerts have been played in the Monterey High School Auditorium, drawing a full-house attendance of nearly 2,000, or capacity.

In February of 1960 the decision was made to shift the concert scene to the 3,000-seat Lubbock Municipal Auditorium and to include, for the first time, pupils from schools in the surrounding South Plains area, in addition to the Lubbock City Schools. (They were included again in 1961.)

The concert in February 1960 drew more than 3,500 students into the huge house, representing an area of more than 50 miles in radius.

The incidence of pupils literally sitting two to a seat and lining the walls on the outside aisles prompted the Lubbock Public Schools, the Allegro Music Club, and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra to consider a two-performance afternoon in 1961, repeating the program in the second hour to accommodate the swiftly rising demand on the part of both city and rural students. Unfortunately, it was not possible this year to have two performances so attendance was again limited to 3,000.

As this program has developed and grown, the desire of the sponsoring organizations and the orchestra leadership has been to extend the opportunity for attendance at the concerts to the outlying areas on the South Plains as well as accommodating the expanding student population within the city limits. The scheduling of dual concerts on a single afternoon could then make available more than 6,000 seats and allow an even greater coverage of those schools whose students are being trained or preparing for training in the string programs. Perhaps this can be accomplished another year.

In 1961, a unique experience was tried and found rewarding. The mentally retarded children from the trainable school were invited. Apprehension because of their limited attention span proved groundless because the children became involved and thrilled with the music.

[Ed. Note: Mrs. T. J. Lovett, President of the Allegro Music Club, writes: "May I tell you how proud and thrilled we are to have our yearly project in *Showcase*. Thank you very much for this honor." And thanks to this club for sharing an idea which may give program ideas to other clubs.]

Announces

A Grant from

Reader's Digest Foundation

to provide

Partial Scholarships in 1962

to

National Music Camp

Interlochen, Michigan

* Applicant, to be eligible, must enroll for the full term of eight weeks.

* Students of piano, voice, or any orchestral instruments will be considered.

* Scholarships are granted to students of high school age.

* Completed application form, picture, tape of music, school records from principal, supported by two letters of recommendation, must be filed with the Chairman, Mrs. M. Cedric Dowling, 1223 Loeser Street, Jackson, Michigan, before February 15, 1962.

* Application blanks are available from Mrs. Dowling (see address above).

14

## Songs by Alice de Cevée

Blue Ridge Ballad—THE OLD RIVER ROAD
(based on Americana)—medium voice

PENNSYLVANIA FEDERATION AWARD WINNER, 1959

THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT (CARL FISCHER, INC.)

DOWN BY THE SALLY GARDENS (CARL FISCHER, INC.)

ANNIVERSARY (CARL FISCHER, INC.)

SLOW BOAT (CARL FISCHER, INC.)

For sale, 60 cents each; two for $1.00 plus 4% tax, by STUDIO AND CONCERT MUSIC PUBLISHERS
1950 Beaufort Lodge Road, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

## 1st Performance of new major choral work

## ABRAM IN EGYPT
by ELINOR REMICK WARREN

Los Angeles International Music Festival, June 7, 1961
with The Roger Wagner Chorale, Donald Gramm, soloist

## "NEW MUSIC FOR PIANO TEACHERS"

a 48 minute LP disc by Athenaeum Recordings presenting
**CHARLES HAUBIEL, Pianist**

in 31 pieces by 24 composers from the Composers Press catalogue
representing grades 1 to 6 inclusive

"This record is truly a needed achievement and therefore should be used universally, not only by teachers for illustration but also by students as an example of style. I prophesy complete success for this record."—IrI Allison.

Disc sells for $4.14

A special discount price on the disc together with the music may be had from:

**DORIAN RECORDS**
1815 No. Kenmore Ave., Hollywood 23, Calif.

## JOHN TASKER HOWARD

### Songs for Women's Voices, SSA
*O! Did You Hear the Meadow Lark? (Galaxy)
*The Little Bay Mare (Chas. H. Hansen)
*The Smart Red Fox (Chas. H. Hansen)
*The Country Store (Elkan-Vogel)

Sacred Choral Works

### DOROTHY DAWSON LOWELL
Arrangements, Dr. Harry Robert Wilson

### NEW RELEASES

O, What Can I Give to the
Holy Child? SSA, SATB
Bourne, Inc., 136 W. 52nd St., N.Y. 19, N.Y.

My Life Is Like a Weaving
Solo, SSA, SATB

The Big Three, 1540 Broadway, N.Y. 36, N.Y.

## Our Federation Composers

### Edna Taylor

Piano: ON A SUMMER SEA, WALTZING ON ICE, TWO
DANCES (Fiesta, In Grandfather's Day)
C. RUSKIN SANDBOURNE

Piano: BLACKKEY AND WHITEY, MOONLIGHT ON THE
SNOW, TWO TUNES IN JET BLACK (Very Sharp,
To Chinatown)

Piano and combo: NORTHERN LIGHTS

SSATB: TOWERING HIGH

SSA: GARDEN HYMN, MY AUTUMN TIME

TBB: NANO

TTBB: MY OBSESSION, WHEN HE COMETH

Published by Lavell Publishing Co., Inc.,
Omaha 31, Nebr.

## NEW CHORAL WORKS

by Glad Robinson Youse

Publisher

O, It Is Lovely, Lord. SSA, SATB.

Carl Fischer

The Voice Of The Christ Child. SATB.

Carl Fischer

Plaintive Music. SSA.

Carl Fischer

Prairie Lullaby. SSA.

Remick Music Corp.

Redbirds and Rainbows. SSA.

Remick Music Corp.

The Quilting Song. SSA.

Remick Music Corp.

Winter Enchantment. SSA.

Remick Music Corp.

## RUTH BRADLEY RECEIVES AWARD

given by The Whistler Society of New York for her "Abstractions" and other musical works. These 45 Abstractions may be ordered from:

The American Composers Edition

c/o Ray Green

5 Great Jones St., N.Y.C. 12, N.Y.

## MARY HOWE—Composer

### SPRING PASTORAL

Played by the Imperial Philharmonic of Tokyo
WILLIAM STRICKLAND, conductor
Record Just Released—Composers Recording, Inc. No. 145
For information write

A. Hull, 96 Grove St., New York 14, N.Y.

## Howard Hanson

Choruses for Women's Voices

How Excellent Thy Name

CARL FISCHER, INCORPORATED

56-62 Cooper Square

New York 3, New York

### STILL AVAILABLE

Come Into My Heart, Lord Jesus, SSA
Easter in Heaven, SA, SSA, SATB, High, Low solo
I Need Thee, Heavenly Father, SSA, SATB, High, Low solo
I Know the Touch of His Hand, SSA, SATB
Thanks Be to God, SATB
Bourne, Inc., 136 West 52nd St., New York 19, N.Y.

Christ, My Master, SSA, SATB
The Big Three, 1540 Broadway, New York 36, N.Y.

God's Dawn Brings Day, SSA
Elkan-Vogel, 1716 Sansom St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Love's Garden (a wedding song), Medium solo
Bourne, Inc., 136 West 52nd St., New York 19, N.Y.

Winter, 1961-1962

15

Case History

Crescent
Little
Symphony

THE Crescent Little Symphony, sponsored by the Crescent Music Club of Greenville, South Carolina, attained new and significant recognition in 1961 when South Carolina's first All-State High School orchestra gave its first performance at Dreher High School auditorium in Columbia with Dr. Frank Crockett of Atlanta as guest conductor.

Of the 69 young musicians playing, approximately 15 are now or had been members of the Little Symphony which, from its organization in the autumn of 1955 has been under the direction of Miss Rita May Baker, first cellist with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra.

The Crescent Little Symphony has the largest membership in its history this season, being made up of some 45 high school students drawn from Greenville, Anderson, and nearby points. Proof of its worth lies in the fact that nine of its members have qualified for chairs in the Greenville Symphony, and that it is the state's finest contribution to the "Crusade for Strings" of the National Federation of Music Clubs.

The All-State orchestra is a project of The South Carolina String Teachers Association and the South Carolina Music Educators Association and its members were chosen at auditions which were held in the early winter in Columbia.

Dr. Crockett, long identified with the work of the music camp at Interlochen, Michigan and with the high school orchestra circuit generally, declared the concert of the South Carolina group to be the finest "first" performance he had ever heard.

The fact that the Crescent Little Symphony early merited the backing of the Greenville Symphony and later that of the city's recreation department has extended its influence considerably. To the former can be traced the restoration of the string program in the music department of the city schools and to the latter the establishment of similar orchestras in other cities in other states. The most recent request for information on such a feature in a city's recreation program came from Kingsport, Tennessee.

Rita May Baker, first cellist with the Greenville (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra has been Conductor of the Crescent Little Symphony since its founding in 1955 by the Crescent Music Club as the principal feature of its "Crusade for Strings," a project of the National Federation of Music Clubs.

The Little Symphony's concert series in 1961 included performances at the Nurses' Home, Greenville General Hospital; at Anderson Junior College, Anderson, South Carolina; at Greer, under the auspices of the Greer Music Club and its junior groups; an al fresco concert at the Greenville Museum of Art: a morning concert at Christ School; and the annual performance over WFBC-TV.

A concert in May was a part of the Crescent Music Club's Youth Festival which took place at the Greater Greenville Youth Center in Cleveland Park. This is the Little Symphony's rehearsal spot since the Youth Center was provided largely through the work of the Crescent Community Club of which the Crescent Music Club is an affiliate.

As usual, the Little Symphony joined the Greenville Symphony in its annual Youth Concerts, February 27 and March 9 when the combined orchestras played to some 10,000 students in the schools of areas 2 and 3. One of its members, Pamela Pandolfi, has qualified as violin soloist, for the Youth Concerts.

Participating in the Festival were not only the Little Symphony, but soloists from each of the junior clubs sponsored by the Crescent Music Club who were chosen in auditions, as well as two young guests, one a pianist and the other a singer.

Mrs. George E. McDougall is President of the Crescent Music Club.

Time with the
Master

by Diana Steiner, 1959 YA Winner

SINCE September, 1960, I have been one of the lucky few to have had an opportunity of working with the Master, Mr. Jascha Heifetz. I am sure that many of my generation have grown up, as I have, with the magic name of Heifetz, as the brightest star in their violinistic firmament. So, the idea of having the chance of spending time under his watchful eye and listening ear seemed like an unattainable dream. This privilege is possible today because Mr. Heifetz has been made Regents Professor at UCLA.

It is only natural that legends and rumors should flourish about a famous personality. For instance, the one about scales, scales, and more scales. It was a revelation to me to find that the well-known scale routine is really a marvelous set of violinistic roadwork and technical discipline, over which so many of us have grown lax.

Then, there is the popular cliché, can a great performer also be a great teacher. My experience is overwhelmingly "Yes." The example, alone, of true dedication to art might be enough. However, Mr. Heifetz goes much further. No problem is too small for consideration and solution. His philosophy is that if one is a violinist, one should and must be able to do everything on the violin well. This might be called the positive approach. When we work on a piece of music, we cover it from every aspect—technical, musical, and performing. Suggestions are made such as, what orchestral solos to listen for in a concerto, and when it is improper to tune. A particular passage may bring out examples of like passages in many other works. We may spend hours on a work like the Bach "C major Fugue." We carefully check the score for mistakes. We discuss any necessary changes of bowing and fingering with the musical form and interpretation as a guide for all technical maneuvers. Everything must sound, and variety must be achieved. Then after tearing down, we work to build climax and variety between sections, and finally for effect as a whole.

Jascha Heifetz is a living example of a great artist who is constantly growing, constantly searching for the truth. He only asks of his students the same as he has always asked of himself and all with both seriousness and fast, sharp wit.

16

# National Music Week
## Report for 1961

by Mrs. Stanton Huber, Chairman

EXCITING events are already in the planning stage for 1962 National Music Week observances, May 6-13, with the theme "Let the World Rejoice with Music."

And each year, recognition of National Music Week grows more widespread with music organizations, schools, colleges, symphony orchestras, churches, and civic groups participating in live programs, radio broadcasts, and telecasts.

In 1961, the press proved this growing interest with 1807 newspaper stories (40% more than in 1960). Texas had 745 clippings from 73 cities; Pennsylvania had 149 from 37 cities. At least 247 radio and 52 television stations participated.

Governors of 26 states issued proclamations. Reports came in concerning 205 mayors who issued proclamations, and the Altus Air Force Base Commander in Oklahoma proclaimed National Music Week.

Hammond Organ Company provided each state with a taped film for television which was used in 1961 and will be used again in 1962.

House Bill No. 386, which officially designates National Music Week as being sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs, was introduced in April at the joint session by Congressman Kearns. Miss Marie Hurley, our Legislative Chairman, is responsible for this accomplishment.

More than 685 cities over the country participated. And State Music Week Chairmen were particularly active in Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

A few examples of outstanding observances were: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Mu Phi Epsilon Chapter at the Conservatory held a poster contest at the Convalescent Hospital for Children. Amarillo, Texas, had a 1500-student piano festival; and in North Carolina there were 2400 students in one program. At one of the hymn sings all the "Hymns of the Month" were used; another was called "Singspiration." Miss Curtis of Massachusetts coordinated 29 schools, which involved 14,000 students in daily programs for the week. In fact, schools and churches were high on the list of participants. Dr. Saitveit, of the Board of Regents

of New York State, contacted 2,000 schools and urged their observance. Chicago Library had two outstanding musical programs, and one library in Idaho held a workshop on the care of the piano besides having a display of manuscripts and instruments. In Ajo, Arizona, there was a two-day American Folk Festival in honor of National Music Week. Centerville, Iowa, had floral arrangements which illustrated songs from around the world. A grass roots opera had been taped in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and was broadcast during Music Week. Ritzville, Washington, held a most unusual community observance; 50 merchants displayed posters with musical questions, and cash awards were made on the basis of the points accumulated from the largest number of correct answers. The Shriner's Hospital in North Carolina expressed their appreciation for the program given in the hospital. Ogden, Utah, had their first all-city orchestra, and one community re-activated their symphony during Music Week. In San Diego, California, there were 102 programs. A most unusual observance was held in Boise, Idaho, where 36 speakers played recordings of taped music daily for two hours around the fountains in the park. A King and Queen of Music Week were selected on the basis of their musical ability, in Charleston, South Carolina. There were Queens in Oregon and Nevada, also.

Many outside organizations also participated — P.T.A., DAR, civic clubs, school and church groups—in addition to the list of Cooperating organizations presented here. Benefactors, donors, and friends contributed funds for the administration of this vast nation-wide project.

The National Federation of Music Clubs accepted the permanent sponsorship of National Music Week four years ago and gratefully acknowledges the wide-spread musical and financial support which has been received.

Mrs. A. E. Staub of New Mexico was Vice Chairman and Mrs. Harley Edington was Committee Member for the 1961 National Music Week.

## PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

### Benefactors

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

Music Publishers' Protective Association

### Donors

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization

The Harmony Company, Chicago, Illinois

Mu Phi Epsilon, National Music Sorority

H. & A. Selmer Inc., Elkhart, Indiana

Sigma Alpha Iota National Music Fraternity

Mr. Charles M. Tremaine

## Friends

American Guild of Musical Artists

Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity

Harold Flammer Incorporated

Hymn Society of America

Phi Beta Fraternity

## Cooperating Organizations

Accordion Teachers Guild

American Academy of Teachers of Singing

American Legion Auxiliary

American Music Center

American Music Conference

American Musicological Society

Associated Male Choruses of America, Inc.

Camp Fire Girls, Inc.

Canadian Bureau for the Advancement of Music

College Band Directors National Association

Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.

Hammond Organ Co.

Kiwanis International

Philip Lesly Company

Moravian Music Foundation, Inc.

Music Library Association

Music Teachers National Association, Inc.

National Association for American Composers and Conductors, Inc.

National Association for Music Therapy, Inc.

National Association of Music Merchants, Inc.

National Association of Schools of Music

National Grange

National Guild of Piano Teachers

National Music Camp

National Piano Manufacturers Association

National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution

National Y.W.C.A.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America

Piano Technicians Guild

Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.

Society for the Publication of American Music

Southern Music Publishing Company, Inc., New York City

WNYC, Municipal Broadcasting System of City of New York

## GOVERNORS PROCLAMATION

Alabama—John Patterson

Connecticut—John N. Dempsey

Florida—Farris Bryant

Illinois—Otto Kerner, Jr.

Idaho—Robert E. Smylie

Iowa—Norman A. Erbe

Kansas—John Anderson, Jr.

Kentucky—Bert T. Combs

Louisiana—Jimmie H. Davis

Maine—John H. Reed

Massachusetts—John A. Volpe

Michigan—John B. Swainson

Missouri—John M. Dalton

Montana—Donald R. Nutter

Nevada—Grant Sawyer

New Jersey—Robert B. Meyner

North Carolina—Terry Sanford

Ohio—Michael V. DiSalle

Pennsylvania—David L. Lawrence

South Carolina—Ernest F. Hollings

South Dakota—Archie Gubbrud

Tennessee—Buford Ellington

Texas—Price Daniel

Virginia—J. Lindsay Almond, Jr.

Washington—Albert D. Rosellini

West Virginia—William W. Barron

18

HAROLD CONE PIANIST

Harold Cone has recently appeared as soloist with the following orchestras: the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic orchestras of London, the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Madrid Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic, as well as many other orchestras of Spain, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

About to leave on his second South American tour, Mr. Cone will return to make his sixth appearance as soloist at the Lewisohn Stadium summer orchestral concerts in New York City.

"Mr. Cone, perhaps because he himself composes, has an instinct for delineating with utter clarity the intertwinings of thematic substance. He also possesses a forceful rhythmic sense, which can animate from the interior whatever he chooses to play."

New York Herald-Tribune

NEW YORK TIMES

NOV. 14, 1955

CONE, PIANIST, HEARD

Musician With Strong Ideas
Offers Town Hall Recital

Harold Cone, who gave a piano recital yesterday afternoon in Town Hall, is a man with strong ideas about the music he plays.

NEW YORK TIMES

JULY 16, 1959

PIANO VARIATIONS
GIVEN AT STADIUM

Cone Is Soloist in Franck's
Work With Wallenstein
Conducting Orchestra

By JOHN BRIGGS

A small but hardy audience braved threatening weather at Lewisohn Stadium last night to hear Alfred Wallenstein conduct the Stadium Symphony Orchestra, with Harold Cone as soloist in the César Franck Symphonic Variations" for piano and orchestra.

The Franck work is not the most sure-fire display piece in the repertory. It is difficult without being spectacular and gives the solo pianist little opportunity for keyboard historionics.

Nevertheless it is an engaging and interesting work, especially when played by a performer who, as Mr. Cone did last night, approaches the work in the manner of one who holds it in special affection.

Rapport between orchestra and soloist was good, and Mr. Cone's playing of the solo part earned him a hearty demonstration from the audience.

"One of his most valid attributes is his touch which is capable of a wide assortment of colors. Featethy pianissimos, thundering fortes and all the shades between are his."

New York Herald-Tribune

CONCERT MANAGEMENT WILLARD MATTHEWS

200 East 36th St., New York 16, N. Y.

Tel.: ORegon 9-1277

Winter, 1961-1962

19

by Mrs. Ina Wooten Jones

South Carolina

Individual Members **Alfred M. White, Jr.,** and **Mrs. Zula Lee Bradford Wood**, both of Spartanburg, South Carolina, were formerly welcomed in Showcase on page 17 of the January-February issue. But their photo,

shown here, arrived too late for that issue. We are
happy to include it here.

Illinois

The combined years of service to music given by
the following new Life Members from the State of
Illinois would run well into three figures.

**Mrs. Will Taylor** (Lottie to her friends), and Illinoisian by birth and education, was for 28 years a singer and choral director. In 1942 she was elected to the position of President of the Amateur Musical Club of Springfield, Ill., a post she has held ever since. The primary purpose of this group is the guiding of the Community Concert Series in Springfield each year. This, coupled with the presentation of several young Illinois Artists each season, is indeed a full time task. As an expression of appreciation for her years of devoted service to music, the Amateur Musical Club has presented Mrs. Taylor with a Life Membership in the National and Illinois Federation of Music Clubs.

**Louis Sudler** is perhaps one of the busiest men in the world of music today. A well-known Concert and Oratorio singer, Mr. Sudler also is an active businessman and civic leader in his native city, Chicago, However, his personal activities are almost overshadowed by his sincere efforts in behalf of the Young Artist. Currently, Mr. Sudler is serving as host to WNBQ's Artist Showcase, which features Joseph Gallicchio and the NBC Chicago Concert Orchestra. The Stars of these telecasts are young professional classical artists from the Chicago area. To promote interest in the study of Oratorio vocal repertoire Mr. Sudler sponsors scholarships for students interested in this field, at both Northwestern University School of Music and Augustana College, and is offering an Oratorio Award of $1500 in the 1963 NFMC Young Artist Auditions.

Mr. Sudler truly exemplifies the ideals of our Fed-
eration in his constant desire to share the joys of music
with his fellowman.

**Mrs. R. Stanley Anderson** (Eugenia) is a pianist,
organist and composer in addition to being the mother of a
16-year-old son. Mrs. Anderson's days are full to over-
flowing. However, she has found time to serve as Presi-

dent of the Chicago Alumnae Chapter, Mu Phi Epsilon,
and the Chicago Club of Women Organists. As of now,
she is Vice President in charge of the Northern Area
of the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs. Although
Mrs. Anderson has both a Bachelor and Masters Degree
in Music, she is at present taking a course in Musical
Therapy at Chicago Musical College.

**Mrs. James Allen Young** (Eleanor)—Again we find one whose daily routine is in the business world, but whose love for youth and music had led her to give of time and energy far beyond the “call of duty.” Mrs. Young has served as President of Chicago Music Study Club, President of First District, Illinois Federation of Music Clubs, State and District Chairman of Junior Festivals and is now serving her State Federation as Treasurer and the NFMC on the Publications Committee. Of her it may truly be said: “If you want a task well done, ask the busy person.”

**Mrs. E. E. Vollmer** (Clara)—For over 25 years Clara Vollmer has been a loyal worker in the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs, serving as a Club President, and in many capacities in the Chicago District as well as on the State level. A business woman with an abiding love for music, she has given freely of her time to further the cause of music. Her devotion to the work of our Federation of Music Clubs has been such that she has served as an inspiration and counselor to many who are first finding their way into Federation activities.

**Mrs. R. T. Hillyard** (Marea)—We can think of no better way to describe Marea Hillyard than to say “Here is one who is a cheerful giver.” She is a mother who has guided the musical studies of her own children, and has gone on to give encouragement and aid to many young musicians in her community. A Past President of the Chicago Women’s Musical Club, she is currently serving as its Scholarship Chairman. Her first term as President of the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs, Chicago District, proved so successful that she was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote—a tribute to one who finds no task too small to receive her complete attention, and always with a smile.

Oklahoma

Unique in the annals of the Oklahoma Federation
are the concurrent memberships of three generations
of one family recently taken by **Dr. Finley G. Williams,**
Life Member, his daughter and son-in-law, **Amy
Williams Bowles** and **Thomas Andrew Bowles, III,**
Special Members, and granddaughter, **Lillian Courtner
Bowles, 11 months, Cradle Roll.** See accompanying
photo.

All residents of Oklahoma City, the Williams and
Bowles families have long been active in music circles.
Upon his recent retirement from college teaching, Dr.
Williams established Goldthwaite Hall, an affiliation of
Fine Arts Studios, where Mrs. Bowles teaches harp,

20

piano, and French, and Mr. Bowles is instructor in art and clarinet. Mr. Bowles also composes music.

Dr. Williams holds degrees from several universities, among them Harvard. He did graduate work at the Royal Academy, London, England, and at the Conservatoire, Fontainebleau, France.

Lillian Courtner is the namesake of both her maternal grandmother, Lillian Williams, and great grandmother, Lillian Sauer.

Pictured is the old Steinway piano originally placed in the Sauer family home, New Orleans, reports Mrs. F. E. Weller, State Chairman of Individual Memberships, who is credited with 24 new Individual Members in the Oklahoma Federation.

## 1961 Alaska Festival

CO-DIRECTED by Robert Shaw and Julius Herford, the sixth annual Alaska Festival of Music conducted in Anchorage from June 12 to 29, has won acclaim as the most successful thus far on the basis of performance and participation.

Conducted by Shaw, the master concert featured the 120-voice Anchorage Community Chorus and the 68-piece Festival orchestra in Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis."

Guest vocalists for the final concert, which concluded with a standing ovation from an audience of 2,000, were Florence Kopleff, contralto; Saramae Endich, soprano; Donald Gramm, bass-baritone, and James Wainner, tenor.

Attracting participants from every corner of the continent, the 1961 Festival was evaluated by Executive Director Mary Hale (NFMC Representative in Alaska) as "our finest to date in participation and quality of performance."

Highlights included: recitals by the Westwood Wind Quintet of Los Angeles, and the Modern Arts String Quartet of San Diego; a seminar of Eskimo music conducted by Lorraine Koranda, former University of Alaska Music Director; TV opera seminars conducted by John Wustman; instrumental concert conducted by Dan Lewis, concertmaster of San Diego Symphony; children's concert conducted by Lewis and attended by 1800 youngsters.

Governor William A. Egan proclaimed the period from June 12 to 29 as "Music Festival Time in Alaska," and following the final concert certificates of appreciation for their major contribution to music in Alaska were presented to Robert Shaw and Julius Herford by a representative of Governor Egan.

The 1962 Festival will be staged from June 10 to 30. It will mark a departure from sacred works with Haydn's "The Seasons" selected for the master concert.

In seminar in Eskimo Music, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Amouak demonstrate Eskimo ritual dance on stage while Mr. and Mrs. Otis Ahkivgak of Point Barrow chant and beat seal skin drum for the dance. Mrs. Koranda is shown at right, seated on the stage. The Ahkivgaks speak no English. (Ward Wells photo)

Winter, 1961-1962

## Pittsburgh in 1963

Planning committee for NFMC Biennial Convention meets in Pittsburgh-Hilton Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where convention will be held in April 1963: Seated, left to right: Mrs. H. Leslie Sarles, PFMC President, hostess; Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock, NFMC President; Mr. John S. Edwards, Manager of the Pittsburgh Symphony and President of American Symphony Orchestra League; Mrs. Robert M. Fisher, NFMC Chaplain and Chairman of Convention Committee; Mrs. David V. Murdoch, Local Chairman; Mrs. Lewis E. Young, NFMC Board Member, Local Chairman of Auditions and of Patrons. Standing, left to right: Mrs. William B. Millard, PFMC Corresponding Secretary and acting secretary of the committee; Mrs. Gilbert Burrell, Vice President in charge of Northeastern Region of NFMC; Mrs. Walter A. Knerr, Vice Chairman of Committee and Chairman of Season Registrations.

## Claudette Sorel

Miss Claudette Sorel, noted concert pianist, will be guest lecturer in piano at the University of Kansas in the 1961-62 year.

Miss Sorel made her first concert appearance at the age of 11 and was the youngest artist to win the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Award in 1951. She also has won the Harry Rosenberg and the Frank Damrosch Memorial prizes.

Although only 28 years old, Miss Sorel has made 55 appearances with 32 symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Orleans, and NBC symphony orchestras. She has made four concert tours of Europe and has played in more than 150 American cities.

A 1948 graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, she also has studied at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1954 she earned the B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from the Columbia University School of General Studies.

She has performed this season in Milwaukee, Beloit, Columbus, and Cheyenne, and in Carnegie Hall on January 10.

## In Memoriam

Mrs. Edward J. Colgan, NFMC Board Member from Maine, passed away November 4 after a valiant battle with cancer. Mrs. Colgan, a native of Canada, began public singing at seven and became well known as contralto soloist, pioneer in radio, teacher, and music leader. She won many scholarships and studied at Jamaica Normal, New York University, City College, University of Vermont, and Colby College. In 1926 she went to Maine and, through the years, continued multitudinous music activities. She held many state chairmanships, served two terms as President of Maine FMC, was NFMC Board member from Maine since 1957. NFMC, in tribute to her, sent a contribution to the Louise Colgan Music Scholarship Fund, jointly administered by the Waterville Friends of Music and Colby College.

Mrs. Colgan is survived by husband, Professor Edward J. Colgan (Lafayette Hotel, Portland, Maine), and a son by a previous marriage and four grandchildren.

21

# Jr. Highlights

by Blanche Schwarz Levy

NEWSGATHERERS reporting makes most interesting reading throughout the states and a condensed version of exciting Junior activities follows.

**Arizona**, 76 players from 5 Junior Clubs, ranging from 8 to 15 years, participated in their 11th two-piano recital. **Arkansas**, 270 Juniors attended State Convention in Little Rock; a prize was awarded to a Club of Grade School level having best 25-word composition on "What it means to me to be a member of a Junior Federated Music Club." Another prize went to High School Club member who wrote on "What a Music Education means to me, whether I am a Music Major or not." **California**, marked interest in Parade of American Music was shown, with all participants honored with Single or Double Ribbon Awards. Aid to the Cadman Memorial Fund Scholarship at Redlands University was claimed by Cadman Junior Club of Fresno as its project of the year. **Idaho**, Boise Junior and Juniorette Clubs held annual Festival with 235 participants. Pocatello Junior Club contributed $600 to city school's Music Department, for use at their discretion; other contributions were made to Stillman Kelley Scholarship and Rural School Fund. **Illinois**, Springfield had largest Festival in its history. For a second year, Chicago included two large bands of some 75 members which performed in groups and as soloists. Among large orchestras was Fanny Hassler's Student Symphony Orchestra which performed on TV on Memorial Day as well. The state sent young musicians on scholarship to Interlochen—Cathy Meints, cellist, and Stewart Cain, Jr., flutist. **Kansas**, Junior Convention was held in Hutchinson in April at close of NFMC Convention in Kansas City; many awards were received. Cathy Miller, Superior-3, brought honor to Mission Harmonizers for her "Raindrops" in NFMC Junior Composers Contest this year. The Club contributed not only to National and State Projects but also purchased 52 Insignia Pins, three Achievement Record Books, some Federation gold seals, and a total of 43 Junior Keynotes subscriptions. **Kentucky**, 416 young musicians participated in state's Festivals held in Louisville, Paducah, Glasgow, and Owensboro. Junior Division later held its 14th annual Convention in Richmond with 60 Superiors performing; the federation of ten new clubs brought the roll up to 49 clubs. **Maine**, the reporting group is named for Charles Shannon of Saco in recognition of a life of active service in the interest and advancement of music. Among awards presented was the Karmazin String Award—a $200 scholarship to Mary Lynn Carmon, and last year's winner, Harry Klein, was on hand to receive state Stillman Kelley award; brilliant performances were given by each winner. **Massachusetts**, over 100 entrants in piano and voice took part in Festivals at Boston Conservatory in April. **Michigan**, convention of Junior and Student Clubs held in Battle Creek captured attention of all present. **Mississippi**, glowing highlight of Junior Day was visit of NFMC President, Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock, whose praises for Mississippi's activities charmed everyone. Loving cups (highest points on National Rating Sheet) went to Junior MacDowell, Marion MacDowell, and LaPetite MacDowell Clubs, all of Jackson. Thirteen new groups joined Junior Division and there were some 800 Festival entrants, thus carrying on their slogan "Mississippi Marching Musically." **New**

Mexico, over 550 Juniors entered statewide, thus claiming greater interest in the Festivals than ever before and events had 157 Superiors. Former Juniors are now members of Student Division indicating music is on upswing in the state. **New York**, two programs were held at Judson Hall within two hours of each other with 22 clubs represented. Lillian's Music Makers String Club opened the first program with an ensemble of 14 violins; cheers to this club that has been riding a musical wave these past few months. Their young President, Karen Kelly, performed for the Violin Teachers Guild Concert at Carnegie Recital Hall and the Music Makers, plus their regular programs, gave two July performances for the Elementary Schools in Elmont, Long Island, to introduce the violin to third grade students. Their Counselor is one of the teachers of this recreation program. The second program of the Festival Supervisors opened with the Haydn Concerto in C Major with Adrian Bryttan, violinist, as soloist; Adrian was cover boy of February-March Keynotes and added a June broadcast from Fordham University to his efforts. A violin and viola program was given by the Blanche Schwarz Levy String Club in June. Your writer was honored and thrilled with a surprise testimonial dinner given her by the federated Violin, Viola and Violoncello Teachers Guild Inc., as out-going President and for her many years of service to "strings." It's good to see that New York is "looking up" in the Crusade for Strings. State Composition Contest claimed winners Gail Johnson, Suzanne Blottner, and Scott Kingsley. **North Carolina**, Junior Convention held in Ashville was a glamorous affair; among honored guests was Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock, National President; and her presentation of $100 scholarships and the crowning of the "King and Queen" was a thrilling feature of the banquet and very much so to Vann Hyatt and Cammela Seagle. Mozart Junior Club of Ashville made arrangements for this memorable convention of 200 Juniors. **North Dakota**, for first year held three Regional Festivals, with 56 Superiors and promising results for next season. **Oklahoma**, the Keynoters Junior Club (17) of Lawton, drove 180 miles (three cars) to the State Junior Convention at the State University. **Pennsylvania**, Festivals and Conferences were held in five regions, with 102 Superiors. **Rhode Island**, the Federation sponsored the Annual Junior Choir Festival in observance of National Music Week; 14 choirs and hundreds of visitors came to Providence. **South Dakota**, 27 members from seven Central towns participated in Festivals. **Texas**, 1200 Juniors entered the 10 Festivals. National representative to Junior Convention was Mrs. Clifton J. Muir, National Vice President, who addressed the Juniors. An upsurge of 27 Junior Clubs was reported added to the roll this year. **Virginia**, Juniors held their "Big Day" in April; the Virginia 1960 Scholarship winner, Lawrence Henry, was presented—other awards and scholarships followed. . . . The B Natural Club of Front Royal boasts of many awards and 100% Keynotes subscriptions (28 members).

George H. Zimmerman, Teacher-Consultant, Public Schools, Dayton, Ohio, has chosen "The British Isles—A Commonwealth of Music" as the subject for his truly fascinating article in this issue.

Leta Mae Smith, former National Rating Chairman reports on Honor Roll, 119 Club Rating Sheets as top peak; 89 Clubs made the Honor Roll and 39 Clubs merited National Gold Certificates.

An incomplete report from Mrs. Clinton Bell, former Junior Festival Chairman announces these "toppers" in National Festival events: 1, Iowa; 2,

*(Continued on page 23)*

22

# TV-Radio-Films

by Quaintance Eaton

NBC's TV Opera season opened with the traditional "Amahl" on Dec. 24; repeat performances of "Don Giovanni" on Jan. 25, and "Cavalleria Rusticana" in March or April are also scheduled. The only new production will be Montemezzi's "The Love of Three Kings," on Feb. 25, with Phyllis Curtin and Giorgio Tozzi, and Alfred Wallenstein making his NBC-TV debut as conductor.

A fine NET series wins a sponsor! It is good news that the Humble Oil and Refining Company will support showings of "An Age of Kings," the series of 15 depicting all of Shakespeare's historical plays in continuous, unified performance. Ask for this series in your community: address National Educational Television and Radio Center, 10 Columbus Circle, New York 10, N. Y.

NET also has an opera program of significance, titled "Opera and Art." It consists of Ravel's "L'Heure Espagnole," Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," and a tour of contemporary art conducted by Vincent Price. The operas were produced by WGBH-TV in Boston; the art show, "Mirror of Man," by WQED, Pittsburgh.

The Metropolitan Saturday afternoon broadcasts is again being carried by an independent network of more than 100 radio stations, beginning on Dec. 9 with "Lucia di Lammermoor," in which Joan Sutherland made her Metropolitan debut.

**"West Side Story" a Masterpiece.** Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" just waited for the movies to do it real justice. Excellent as the theatre production was, the film is superlative, a masterpiece of sight, sound, and emotion. What was confined on the stage now is freed into the vitality of life in the magnificent and terrible city of New York; the immediacy of the old, old personal story explodes before the eyes and in the mind and heart, as the contemporary Romeo and Juliet play out their star-crossed love in almost unbearable poignance.

There is not a flaw to be found in this masterly translation from one medium to another. Every element has fused to achieve perfection. Arthur Laurents' story seems deeper and more meaningful in the screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Jerome Robbins, who not only choreographed but assisted Producer Robert Wise in directing, deserves the highest praise for his subtle and daring manipulation of the vital young cast, all of whom are clearly individual, enormously talented in dance, song, and acting. In showing the dramatic scenes of the city, the camera has a soul of its own; seldom have such breathtaking effects been seen on any screen, large or small. The combination of realism in the shabby, sordid streets, and impressionism in the subjective view of their surroundings by the young lovers is imaginative, inexpressibly beautiful and moving. The music, too, comes to life in an entirely new way; the background score seems no longer too brash and brutal, for it expresses the milieu perfectly; the familiar songs, "Tonight," "Maria," "Gee, Officer Krupke," and the others, fall into place and are completely integrated, appearing fresh and new in connotation. One of the most persuasive elements is the excellence of the dubbing. At last it seems possible to believe that the singers are really singing right there and then; you cannot catch them "mouthing." However it was done, it is a technical triumph.

The young actors deserve every commendatory adjective in the book. Natalie Wood achieves a personal triumph as Maria, touching, lovely, fragile—and talented. Richard Beymer is a sympathetic and believable Tony; Rita

Moreno and George Chakiris are a dazzling pair of Latin lovers; and Russ Tamblyn's approximation of Mercutio's role is fresh and vital. The gangs, their girls, and the few adults are miniature portraits, every one characterful.

You must not miss this film. It appeared in Miami Beach and Los Angeles from Dec. 14; San Francisco from Dec. 15; in February will be in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. Stay for the credits; they are long-drawnout but delightfully ingenious.

**Delicious "Midsummer Night's Dream."** Jiri Trnka, the gifted puppeteer and animator, whose "Emperor's Nightingale" provided so much delight a few years ago, has translated Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" into his own magical world with stunning success. This is like no "Dream" you ever dreamed; while you will hear the voices of Richard Burton as a narrator and other noted players of The Old Vic as the timeless characters, what you see will be an entirely new experience. Trnka's imagination and infinite patience have created a fantasy of color, movement, and whimsy that invest the familiar tale with gossamer new delicacy and humor. Only one small complaint must be registered; the detail is often overwhelming and tends to be redundant. One could wish for a little less "decoration." A new musical score is entirely appropriate—it is by Vaclav Trojan, who thus joins Mendelssohn and half a hundred others—Benjamin Britten the latest—in investing Shakespeare's fantasy with sound.

This enchanting film opened in New York on Dec. 18, and was released through the country after Jan. 1.

## Jr. Highlights (Continued)

North Carolina; 3, Oklahoma; 4, Texas; 5, Illinois.

Mrs. Walter T. Swink, National Chairman Stillman Kelley Scholarship, reports winner for the Northeastern Region: Abbott Lee Ruskin (15), pianist, of New York City. Runners-up: Harry Klein, violinist, Royal Oak, Michigan, and David R. Goldman, pianist, Maplewood, New Jersey. Juniors of the Southeastern States will compete for the $1000 1962 Award. Remember, your contributions keep this scholarship going!

Florence J. Wilkinson, Parliamentarian NFMC, has a most informative "Call to Order" article.

Chairman of Young Composers reports largest number of manuscripts entered since this contest started—169 compositions.

Edna Benzinger, National Junior Counselor, calls attention to new Junior Counselor's Handbook, filled with many ideas for planning club program and well grounded in all Federation essentials.

Congratulations are in order for Yearbooks to States of Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas; we regret space forbids listing all the fine clubs.

Club Counselor's Corner calls attention to KOHP Awards and Directions—also *Keynotes* NEWS dates are January 1, March 1, and July 1. Essays on the value of Musical Friendship between the British SYM's and the Federation will be welcome—also accompanying pictures.

Letters of appreciation to our National President, Mrs. Bullock, from winners of scholarships as well as many interesting pictures round out this fine issue of *Keynotes*, thanks to Editor Phyllis Lations Hanson.

A happy winter to all!

**"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."**—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW IN "MAN AND SUPERMAN."

Winter, 1961-1962

23

# Briefs

Roger Sessions, eminent American composer and teacher, of Princeton, New Jersey, has been chosen to receive The Gold Medal for Music of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, awarded once in five years. Mr. Sessions, who has been called both "the composers' composer" and "the musicians' musician," is one of the leaders of the contemporary movement in American music. He received the medal formally at the Joint Annual Ceremonial of the National Institute and American Academy of Arts and Letters on May 24. Other winners of The Gold Medal for Music have been Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, John Alden Carpenter, Walter Damrosch, George W. Chadwick, and Charles M. Loeffler.

Elinor Remick Warren, Federation Composer, writes that her tone-poem for orchestra, "The Crystal Lake," was recently programmed by the Belgian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, at Brussels, Belgium, with Daniel Sternefeld conducting the orchestra; the concert was broadcast the following day over the radio and television networks.

The National Music Council has announced that composers under 35 years of age who wish to spend a year in a secondary public school system composing music for its ensembles may make application between now and January 31, 1962. Applications should be addressed to Edwin Hughes, Executive Secretary, National Music Council, 117 East 79 Street, New York 21, New York. Awards for 1962-63 will be announced about March 31. Individual stipends for composers are $5,000, plus dependency allowances and limited travel funds. School systems which are chosen to receive composers will be given grants of $650 to meet expenses such as preparation of scores and parts for performance. This project has been made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation and is administered jointly by the Foundation and the National Music Council.

Dr. Howard Hanson has been elected president of the National Music Council for his 10th two-year term. Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock was elected first vice president, and Stanley Adams, president of ASCAP, second vice president.

Our NFMC composer, Ruth Bradley, was New York City Chapter delegate at the National Convention of the Composers, Authors, and Artists of America in Youngstown, Ohio, in May. And later that same month, five of her Songs and 10 of her Children's Songs were sung before the Women's Press Club of New York.

Last summer after many years of service, Dr. Hattie May Butterfield, retired as organist and choirmaster of St. John's Episcopal Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Dr. Butterfield, who heads the music department at Fort Smith Junior College, is NFMC Board Member from Arkansas and Chairman of Young Composers Contest.

The Nagy "Multi-Screen" Projection System, a radical innovation in stage scenery, was used in New York for the first time for the Manhattan School of Music production of Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" on Thursday, April 20. The "Multi-Screen" Projection System, a new concept in projected scenery, was developed by Dr. Elemer Nagy of the Hartt College of Music. It was first used, while still in the experimental stage, with the aid of a Ford Foundation Grant, for the American premiere of Rossini's "Count Ory" at Tanglewood in August, 1958, and since then for the Hartt College opera productions and by the Goldovsky Grand Opera Theatre, the touring unit of the New England Opera Theatre. The new system uses translucent fibre glass panels with interlocking aluminum frames. Each panel has a corresponding twin-unit projector throwing the desired scene on the panel from the back, the projectors placed from three to six feet behind the panels. Scenery can be realistic or impressionistic, depending on what is painted on the slides, about one by one-and-a-half feet in size. The Multi-Screen Projection System is light, portable and capable of almost infinite adaptations, equally useful for opera, ballet, drama and any production demanding scenery.

24

The National Association for American Composers and Conductors presented the final concert in its 1960-61 series on April 17 at the Carnegie Recital Hall. Raymond Montoni, pianist, and Emerson Meyers, composer-pianist, both of Washington, D.C. opened the concert, playing the first New York performance of "Sonata for Viola and Piano" by Emerson Meyers. The noted accordionist, Carmen Carrozza, performed several works commissioned by the American Accordion Association: "Aria" by William Grant Still; "Lamentations" by Virgil Thomson; "Prelude and Dance" by Paul Creston. "Aria" and "Lamentations" thus received their first New York performance. Joseph Eger, French Horn virtuoso, and Yaltah Menuhin, pianist, presented the premiere of "Sonata for French Horn and Piano" by Peter Jona Korn. The program closed with Nicholas Flagello conducting a brass ensemble from the Manhattan School of Music in the following numbers: "Prelude for Brass Quartet" by Burrill Phillips; "Harlequin" (first performance) by Louis Brunelli; "Music for Brass" by Arthur Cohn; "Suite for Brass" by Nicholas Berezowsky.

Dorian Recording Company of Hollywood, California, has released two discs featuring publications by The Composers Press, Inc. "New Music for the Piano Teachers" as played by Charles Haubiel, presents 31 pieces by 25 composers. This disc had been previously released by Athenaeum Recordings, of which Dr. Irl Allison, (president of National Guild of Piano Teachers) wrote: "This record is truly a needed achievement and therefore should be used universally, not only by teachers for illustration, but also by students, as an example of style. I prophesy complete success with this record." Another release just issued presents concert music from the Composers Press catalog by Harold Morris, Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, Camil Van Hulse, and Charles Haubiel. It is entitled "Contemporary American Piano Classics".

Jacques Abram, 1937 Young Artist winner and noted concert pianist and piano pedagogue, gave both a recital and piano workshop on the Ripon College campus, Ripon, Wisconsin, April 9 and 10. For his recital, April 9, Mr. Abram played Schumann's "Carnaval" as the featured work. Other compositions included Beethoven's "Sonata, Op. 109" and works by Chopin, Haydn, and Bach. For the piano workshop, he discussed piano problems and conducted two critique sessions.

A new society called "The Friends of the Harp" has been formed in Dublin, with the object of restoring the Irish Harp, symbol of an ancient culture, to a place of honor—and to make more widely known and appreciated what survives of Irish harp music. The society proposes to hold public concerts of harp music, to foster the learning of the harp, to publish harp music from old manuscripts, and to encourage composition and arrangements for the harp. A Harp Festival will be held in Dublin this summer.

Ramiro Cortes, twice winner in our NMFC Young Composers' Contest, received a grant of $2,000 at the Academy-Institute Ceremonial of the American Academy and the Nation Institute of Arts and Letters on May 25 in New York City. A book and manuscript exhibition honoring newly elected members and winners of awards and honors in music and literature of the American Academy and Institute opened May 25 at the Academy Museum in New York City and continued until June 18. Manuscript scores by Roger Sessions, recipient of The Gold Medal of the Institute of Music, were shown, including his first major work, "The Black Maskers," written in 1923, as well as his much acclaimed "Idyll of Theocritus," his "Fourth Symphony," and his "Quintet," of more recent vintage. Manuscript scores by two other composers, newly elected members of the Institute, were also on exhibition: Leonard Bernstein represented by early drafts of "West Side Story" and "Candide," and Norman Dello Joio by his "Variations, Chaconne, and Finale."

Clarence E. Cramer, Chicago, has been elected Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters.

Mr. Cramer's contribution to the arts is in organizing and operating touring concert attractions and opera. He also commissions such groups to be organized.

His attractions, using many Chicago and Midwestern artists, appear on concert courses in all parts of the United States and Canada, also in Mexico.

Winter, 1961-1962

25

# Our Extended Horizon

## Student News
by Virginia Castoe Combs

> "Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
> Is oft but perseverance in disguise."

> —Henry W. Austin

INDEED, in our wonderful Student Division we do observe the perseverance of our young geniuses and how they seem to live and thrive, despite many difficulties and, in some cases, almost without training. However, they do not the less deserve the watering-pot and the pruning-knife which we can supply through various channels of NFMC. It is with great pride that the fruits of these waterings and prunings are announced through the results of our several annual Auditions and Contests sponsored through the Student Division.

### Young Composers Contest
Dr. Hattie May Butterfield, National Chairman, brings us results of the 19th annual Young Composers Contests conducted in the Student Division in 1961. Cash awards amounting to $625 are given annually to first and second place winners in three classifications. Class I is for instrumental ensemble: Class II is for Vocal ensemble: and Class III includes piano and vocal solo compositions.

States represented by the 25 entries this year were: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia. Ohio was at the head of the list in largest total of entries. Application blanks for the 1962 contests and flyers of necessary information may be secured now from the National Federation of Music Clubs Headquarters Office in Chicago. It is hoped that increased publicity throughout the States will more than double entries this coming season and serve as a means of great encouragement to the fine potential of creative talent among our Student members.

There was no award of First Prize in Classification I this year but Second Prize went to **Arthur B. Hunkins**, 24, of 538 North State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his "Dialogue Variations." Arthur is not a newcomer to these contests having received First Prize in Class I in 1959 and Honorable Mention in the same category in 1960. He was also given a second Honorable Mention in the Ohio Music Teachers' Association "Arthur Shepherd Composition Contests" in 1960. During these years Arthur was a resident of Athens, Ohio.

Mr. Hunkins received a BA from Oberlin College (major in music) in 1957, studying under a four-year Ford Foundation scholarship. He studied privately in Paris and Fontainebleau, France, from 1957 to 1959 with Nadia Boulanger (composition) and Andre Navarra (cello), under a French government fellowship and teaching assistantship. During the summers of 1958 and 1959 Arthur was the cellist of the Fontainebleau resident string quartet associated with the American Conservatory. From 1959 to 1960 he was graduate assistant in composition at Ohio University (studying composition with Dr. Karl Ahrendt), receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1960.

Currently, Arthur is working toward a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan where he has been a teaching fellow in composition since September, 1960. He is studying with Ross Lee Finney, teaches cello privately at Jackson, Michigan,

and plays cello in the Toledo, Ohio, and Jackson, Michigan orchestras (first chair in the latter).

Arthur's mother, Eusebia Simpson Hunkins, active in the Ohio and National Federation (and from whom he received all of his early training), is a noted composer. The Hunkins family (Maurel, Eusebia, Arthur, and Nancy) received a special Citation from the Ohioana Library Association for their contribution to the musical life of the State of Ohio at the annual Fall Recognition Luncheon in Columbus, Ohio in October.

### Robert James Haskins
835 Woodlawn Avenue, Springfield, Ohio is the winner of First Prize in Classification II. His Choral work "A Psalm of Rejoicing" was unanimously awarded first place by the three judges. Robert was born in 1937 at Denver, Colorado. He began the study of piano at the age of five and cello at 13. He studied composition with Waldo Williamson and William Walters; cello with Fred Hoeppner and Jackson Wiley; and piano with Wolfgang Rudolph Festch and Ruth Parisoe. He has conducted such chamber organizations as the Monteverdi Society and the Bach Society of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, the latter of which he was the permanent conductor.

Young Haskins entered Denver University in 1956, transferred to Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1958 and completed his undergraduate work at Wittenberg in June 1961. Graduate studies were started at Yale University where his chamber opera "Benjamin" was performed in 1960. He will receive his MA at Wittenberg University in June of 1962.

This coming season will see the premier of a new opera and a complete concert of Haskins' compositions, including his first symphony. His "Concerto Grosso for Orchestra" was premiered last year by Jackson Wiley and the Springfield (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra. Also last season, Mr. Haskins conducted the first performance of "York Nativity," a Christmas Opera, and several concerts of Baroque music. He is married to Doris Lou Branch of Denver, Colorado. They have one son. At present they reside in Springfield, Ohio, where Mr. Haskins serves as Director of Music at the First Lutheran Church.

Second Place Winner in Class II was **Miss Arlene Passamanек**, 7445 East Ramona Boulevard, San Gabriel, California. Her choral work is titled "By the Waters of Babylon."

Her music education started at the age of six on the piano. She continued the piano until she went to Pasadena City College, where she changed to the organ. After two years at Pasadena City College, she transferred to the University of Southern California as a junior. (1956)

During her two years of junior college, she decided to major in music composition. At U.S.C. she studied composition with Halsey Stevens, organ with Dr. Irene Robertson, and started flute lessons with Roger Stevens. Her Senior Recital in Composition came in February 1960, and she was graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree, major in composition, in June 1960. In Spring of 1960, she entered the NFMC Young Composer Contest and won honorable mention in the instrumental division with a clarinet sonata.

Robert Haskins

Arlene Passamanек

Arthur Hunkins

26

Miss Passmaneak is active in the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and in the Pasadena Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. She is church organist at Asbury Methodist church in Los Angeles, and works for an insurance company. She hopes to return to U.S.C. in two years for a Master's degree in composition so she can teach music on a college level. She plans to take organ lessons again and to continue with her flute lessons.

No prizes were awarded in Class III, although there were several entries in this new classification added in the 1961 contests. Further encouragement for these smaller forms of composition throughout our schools and colleges will, no doubt, increase both quantity and quality for the 1962 contests.

At the time of printing our column on Student Audition Winners of 1961 in the Summer 1961 issue of *Showcase*, information on Scholarship Winners was not available. According to full reports from the schools granting these scholarships we are pleased to make the announcement now.

**Chatham:** A total of ten District Winners were granted scholarships to the Chatham College Summer Opera Workshop. The school offers one scholarship in each of our fourteen Districts. Four Districts had no applicants. Those who were our NFMC winners were: Henrietta McKee, 24, lyric soprano of Boston; Suzanne Hamiel, 22, lyric soprano, Columbus, Ohio; Mary de Saussure Clarke, 23, lyric soprano, Atlanta, Ga.; Carole Jordan, 21, lyric soprano, Louisville, Ky.; Sharon Sprowls, 22, lyric soprano, Elk City, Okla.; Kathryn Warner, 22, lyric soprano, Portland, Ore.;

Suanna Flake, 23, mezzo-soprano, Little Rock, Ark.; Elsie Lorayne Siebert, 21, mezzo-soprano, Enderlin, N. Dak.; Sandra Schaefer, 22, contralto, Laramie, Wyo.; Richard Golden, 22, baritone, Chicago, Ill.

**Millikin:** The Piano Scholarship to Millikin University was won by Frank Contreras of Central, N. Mex. Frank is 18 years of age and a member of the Silver Keys Club of Silver City, N. Mex.

**Peabody:** Paul L. Wallace, cellist, of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the winner of the Scholarship to Peabody Conservatory of Music. Paul, a special member of NFMC, is 19 and has been a student of David Freed in Salt Lake City.

**New School of Music:** No winner was declared for the scholarship to the New School of Music but Stephen H. Custer, cellist, of Newtonville, Mass., was given a half scholarship to the school in recognition of his musical attainment. He has attended Newton Music School (Newton, Mass.), New England Music Camp, and Meadowmount. Stephen is 18, a pupil of Robert Ripley, of Boston, and a member of the Needham Junior Music Club, Needham, Mass.

And so, with this review of our fine talent from the Student Auditions of 1961 completed, we pause to reflect and to predict. We look back upon excellent work accomplished by our young people and their teachers, the great encouragement given them by their Clubs, their communities, their schools; we look ahead to a bright future for our young American musicians from the ranks of our many talented winners, to our wonderful opportunity to serve them, and to another fine group to be pointed out by 1962-63 Student Auditions.

## Additions and Corrections

The digest of Dr. Albert Stewart's address at the Kansas City Convention, inadvertently omitted from the report in the Summer issue of *Showcase*, was so excellent that we give you a review here:

Dr. Stewart, Director of Purdue Musical Organizations and of the world-famous Varsity Glee Club of Purdue University, quoted: "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness," as he pleaded for real music —not what *people* can do for music but what music can do for *people*. Music, he said, is no longer a thrill or a pastime. It is a real necessity. Even Industry is finding that out.

He noted that rural is not inferior or substandard. He urged NFMC members to believe that rural music is "My problem and to decide what I am going to do about it in my community." Music is a must, and he said that the music club which meets for its own closed meeting with no mention of promoting or helping music in its community is useless. Dr. Stewart said that we must give the idea of singing to people and that the crying need is for leadership and salesmanship. He also hoped that "we could make fans out of prospective audiences."

The photo on page 28 of Summer

issue of *Showcase*, showing Mrs. Deal and Mrs. Honigman before a state exhibit, was a replica of the Virginia House at Transylvania—not a North Carolina project but of the Virginia Federation of Music Clubs. We regret the mistake, Virginia.

In the Summer issue of *Showcase* Edward Bousson, Jr., Gannett Scholarship winner, was listed as being from Nashville. We knew all the time that he is in Memphis—so our apologies to Ed for “moving” him!

Also we were misinformed about the Music Therapy Scholarship granted to Janet Johnson this summer; we thought it was the first one awarded by the NFMC. We now discover that when Mrs. Royden James Keith was President and Mrs. Frieda Diercks was Music in Hospitals Chairman, the NFMC granted a scholarship in Music Therapy to a young man, Alan Toetter.—Exie Burford.

## Membership Extension Flash

Oklahoma reports three new "green" counties in closing the county gaps; Wyoming, one.

Wyoming reports a new member—the Cheyenne Symphony and Choral Society.

## Award to Hawaii

The Honolulu, Hawaii, Advertiser was one of 20 newspapers or persons receiving an Award of Merit from the Public Relations Department of the National Federation of Music Clubs at the Asheville board meeting. Shown here is Mrs. George Barati, right, wife of the Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, presenting the award to Mr. Thurston Twigg-Smith, publisher.

The Music Educators Association in Honolulu sponsored the annual Music Festival, which was held during National Music Week. Mrs. Blant Burford, Chairman of the Public Relations department of the NFMC, presented the award and Mrs. Stanton Huber, Chairman of National Music Week, heartily approved of the presentation.

Winter, 1961-1962

27

# Book Reviews

by Quaintance Eaton

## Opera Duet—One with Pictures

**A Picture History of Opera.** By Philip Hope-Wallace, in collaboration with Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson. New York, Macmillan. 160 pages with index. 363 illustrations.

If you can overlook the inevitable British chauvinism, this book will delight you for hours on end. There are dozens of pictures you will never have seen before, not only because many of them are of English origin, but also because the author-editors have dug up some delicious old bits from all over the world. Scenes, characters, caricatures, portraits, costume drawings—all the panoply of grand opera is here. You will enjoy the captions, too, full of information and personal bias. An example of the former: "Rossini's 'The Lady of the Lake' was a great favorite in the first half of the nineteenth century. Here Henrietta Sontag is seen as Elena in a production in London in 1828. The lake in question is Lock Katrine. . . . The tartan bonnet is a nice stroke of local color." And, at Covent Garden in 1847, the same opera: "The young 'man' on left is Malcolm and it is Alboni who wears the kilt. Mario (right) shows his sword and famous leg. Grisi, the downcast Victorian maid, clutches her waist." Can you wait to see it all?

Examples of the author's critical taste are numerous: he calls Zandonai's "Francesa da Rimini" "beautiful," the old realistic tradition "bad," and reminds us that there is some "offensive realism" in Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mzensk" (which he mistakenly calls "Minsk"). He also pokes fun here and there: the captions for three glamorous exponents of Thais are a case in point. "Sanderson . . . has slipped into something loose after conversion . . . [her] arms as well as her altissimo were highly regarded." "Maggie Teyte . . . a thoroughly Parisian gown of the period, but this singer even then always managed to carry conviction." "Lina Cavalieri . . . presumably got into something less restricting before embarking on the famous 'lumineux' voyage across the desert."

In very brief introductions, the text progresses chronologically and serves to introduce the picture sections, which hold the chief interest. From Picture 1, a satire by Hogarth on the craze for Italian opera, to No. 363, a rather dark illustration of Poulenc's "Les Diagrammes des Carmelites" (naturally at Covent Garden), each page brings its own joys and occasional exasperations. Do not let the latter overcome the former—you would miss too much fun.

**Opera and Its Enjoyment.** By Thomas H. Briggs. New York, Teachers College, Columbia University. 243 pages with selected bibliography. No index. $4.

This book makes the most sense of any we have read in outlining for a beginner the things he should know and try to like about opera. The author, a noted educator (although an amateur in the field of music), writes clearly and communicatively, and he has a great deal to communicate. The first part of his book, entitled "Preparing to Enjoy Opera," includes a definition of the art form, and a detailed discussion of the component parts: libretto, music, settings and costumes, casting, stage business, and spectacles, marches and ballets. There are valuable chapters on the conventions of opera

("symbols which people accept for reality"), ways to prepare yourself for an opera experience and what to do afterward, the enjoyment of opera music on radio and phonograph, and finally a synopsis of "Carmen" as a typical example and one that might well serve as a "first" for the novice. In the second section, fuller detail is given on the elements of opera: libretto, vocal music, orchestra, overture and intermezzo, and so on.

If you have a friend who shies away from operatic experience, or appears contemptuous of it, you can do him (or her—or even yourself) no better service than recommending this excellent little volume.

## Four Composers—
Three Speak Their Minds

**A Composer's World.** By Paul Hindemith, New York, Doubleday (Anchor). 257 pages. 95¢.

**Copland on Music.** By Aaron Copland. New York, Doubleday. 280 pages. $3.95.

**Words on Music.** By Ernst Bacon. Syracuse University Press. 183 pages. $4.00.

**Prokofiev.** By Israel V. Nestyev. Foreword by Nicholas Slonimsky. 528 pages, with index, catalogue, and illustrations. $8.75.

The first three of these are compilations of material previously written or spoken by the composers. Hindemith's are the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures delivered at Harvard in 1949-50, and revised for publication. They range through the higher realms of perception intellectually and emotionally, matters of inspiration, technique, and style, with that brilliant, almost surgical mind playing new light on each subject.

Copland's are articles, lectures, and opinions—some newly minted, others re-evaluated. They range from essays on the pleasures of music, through estimations of personalities and master-composers, to glimpses of younger composers, South American creators, and festivals. The warmth and strength of character of the man show in each page; humor is an ever-present hand-maiden.

Bacon's words are pungent ones, on aspects of musical life little publicized. He is eminently quotable, as witness: "The finest tribute to the past is not to elevate it to a tyranny over the present." "Of all the senses, hearing has been the most abused in our time. . . . The musician, who should be alive to the tones of life and nature, must suspend his principal sense, or else lay himself open to violent and nauseous sounds that are as unnecessary as they are inescapable. . . . Organized noise is the worst, the noise with intention, the noise he cannot ignore, either in ear or mind."

Quotation from Hindemith: "Of all the abject forms that music, regulated by routine and fashion, can assume, two have struck me as particularly significant and symptomatic for our era. One shows how denaturized an art can become once it is made a part of an industrial production system totally inhuman and dictatorial. In Hollywood they keep composers and arrangers in little booths . . . on the assembly line. . . . The other most despicable form of technical and stylistic degradation in music is practiced in totalitarian countries . . . music has become nothing but a lubricant for . . . political machinery."

Quotation from Copland: "Like the other arts, the art of music has a past, a present, and a future, but, unlike the other arts, the world of music is suffering from a special ailment of its own, namely, a disproportionate interest in its past, and a very limited past at that. . . . Only one thing is certain: however arrived at, the process of music and the process of life will always

28

be closely conjoined. So long as the human spirit thrives
on this planet, music in some living form will accom-
pany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning."

We urge you to remember Hindemith's words about totalitarian regimes while reading Proklovie's biography. For, as Slonimsky says in his foreword: "Ideology and politics are integral parts of Soviet musical life, and Nestyev's paragraphs on the subject will be revealing and sometimes fascinating for the non-Soviet reader. After all, the gigantic experiment of directing the language of music according to a set of philosophically formulated principles is unprecedented in history, and it deserves the closest study. Nestyev's book provides illuminating glances into this strange new world."

Proklovie did not always succeed in defending the
faith in music. In fact, his greatest artistic failures were
precisely the works based on patriotic themes. Never-
theless his best output occurred in his years in Russia,
both before and after his sojourn in the Western world.
You will learn a great deal from this book, if your
anger at the approach, which we are bound to consider
biased, does not spill over.

Books Received

Alessandro Scarlatti. By E. J. Dent. London, Edward Arnold; New York, St. Martin's Press. 252 pages, with index, notes, and catalogue. Musical examples. $6.75. A reissue of Dent's first book, published in 1905 when he was 29. The results of later research, not materially changing Dent's work, are added in a preface and notes by Frank Walker.

Harold Arlen: Happy with the Blues. By Edward Jablonski. New York, Doubleday. 286 pages, with index, catalogue, discography, and illustrations. $4.95. The story of an era in which the subject has been a power on Broadway and in Tin-Pan Alley. Lively and well-written. But why the quote from Vaughan Williams? "Art is a compromise between what we want to achieve and what circumstances allow us to achieve."

Beethoven: Letters, Journals, and Conversations. Translated and edited by Michael Hamburger. New York, Doubleday (Anchor.) 290 pages with index. $1.45. Except for accounts by English visitors and the extracts from Thayer's biography, all the material in this book has been newly translated, the editor says in a foreword.

Brahms: His Life and Work. By Karl Geiringer. New York, Doubleday (Anchor). 344 pages with index. $1.45. A second edition, revised and enlarged, with an appendix of letters, and a valuable addition to our library.

Mozart's Librettos. Translated by Robert Pack and Marjorie Lelash. Cleveland and New York, World (Meridian). 480 pages with selected discography. $1.75. A useful book for the opera lover who wants to know "what it's all about." Mozart's five most important operas—"Abduction," "Figaro," "Giovanni," "Così," and "Magic Flute"—are translated into English from the original German or Italian, and both languages appear on facing pages, as in librettos. The translators have made no effort to provide singing versions, but rather have stayed fairly close to the original in their English. They are literate, with occasional flourishes, and seldom colloquial. It is wiser not to try to relate their versions to the music, but to read them merely for understanding. A short introduction and synopsis precedes each opera.

Winter, 1961-1962

World's "March King" Honored

Vice President Lyndon Johnson is given tickets to the gala performance of "The Music Man," August 31, at the National Theater for a benefit sponsored by the John Philip Sousa Memorial, Inc. and co-sponsored by NFMC, Kiwanis (Eastern Branch), and Bandmasters Association of America. Presenting the tickets are Marie A. Hurley, National Legislation Chairman, NFMC, and Marilyn Taylor Savage, star of the musical.

CLARENCE ADLER

Eminent Teacher—Pianist
Studio: 336 Central Park West
New York 25, N.Y.
RI 9-4922

—1962—
The Van Cliburn
Quadrennial
International
Piano
Competition

For details write

Grace Ward Langford, Competition Chairman
2211 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth, Texas

$10,000 Prize from National Guild

Sol Hurok will manage U.S. Tour

Van Wyck will manage European Tour

Carnegie Hall Recital, and many other prizes. Sponsored by National Guild, Fort Worth P.T. Forum, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

Nat'l Hdqrts: Box 1113, Austin, Texas

29

Music Reviews

by Martha C. Galt

"All the world with beauty fills,
Gold the green enhancing;

*Flowers make glee among the hills,
And set the meadows dancing.*

Piae Cantiones, 1582

BOOKS:

There are many approaches to the teaching of theory and harmony, so that the student may find his own level of thinking, and the teacher may present this subject clearly and without ostentation. *Adventures in Music* by Clay Draughon Howell (in private life, Mrs. Tom Howell) is the delightful compilation of actual lesson plans which she has used in teaching young students in the Oklahoma public schools. She works on the premise that there is "nothing new under the sun" and quietly proceeds to present the same old story of staffs and clefs, notes and rests, minor and major and chromatic scales as if they were personal friends. Her definitions are simple but adequate, and she wastes no words nor does she pass up an opportunity to clarify every phase of her subject. She covers the ground very thoroughly in 20 brief chapters, with copious illustrations, and exercises to work out the subject treated. Mrs. Howell is currently serving as National Chairman of Rural Music for the National Federation of Music Clubs, and has been prominently identified with the music of her state of Oklahoma. Publishers are Banks, Upshaw and Company of Dallas.

*Children's Songs from Japan* is a most unique and charming collection of songs, most of them folk songs, which Florence White has gathered together, and harmonized simply, for children. Collaborating with the author is the clever young journalist-author, Kazuo Akiyama, who furnishes the Japanese text to go with the English one, together with phonetics so that any child may be taught to sing them. There is a great deal of Japanese culture underlying the simplicity of the songs—the legends, beliefs, and customs are all a part of the lyrics which children anywhere can learn to love. The delightful illustrations are by Toshihiko Suzuki, who is one of Japan's outstanding artists and illustrators. The music is based on the five-note scale; and so that the Japanese "flavor" may be more typical, it is suggested that accompaniments be played on a zither, and that perhaps

in kindergarten, a drum, gong, or rhythm sticks be used to further augment the effect. It is published by the Edward B. Marks Music Corporation and will be a lovely addition to any primary teacher's library.

Dazzling in its scope and treatment of the often disputed subject of jazz is the book by John Mehegan, *Jazz Impravisation* (Tonal and Rhythmic Principles), with preface by Leonard Bernstein. Jazz is no longer the stepchild of music but has attained respectability, and to quote Marion Bauer in *Twentieth Century Music* . . . "jazz was another American shot that was heard around the world!" The author is quite an authority on the subject, setting forth in scholarly and analytical manner, his premises. He is Instructor in Jazz Music at Juilliard School of Music and at Teachers College, Columbia University; is Jazz Critic for the *New York Herald Tribune*; and is famous for his recordings, lectures, and recitals dealing with this subject. In a dozen conclusive chapters, he pinpoints numerous popular songs, with an analysis of their harmonies in present-day performance. It is a real science, and the old-time "rag time" method of playing popular music has long been outmoded, and exchanged for modern tonal and rhythmic methods. Here is a brilliant exposition of the jazz we hear and wish we might play. The book is published by the Watson-Guptill Publications.

Supplementing this harmonic analysis are three books interpreting the jazz idiom, *The Jazz Pianist*, Books I, II and III, also by John Mehegan—a practical approach through 12 original compositions. One is impressed by the thoroughness and clarity of the author and his great originality in the application of his theory regarding jazz. These books are from the Sam Fox Publishing Company.

For the serious student of American composers, Boosey and Hawkes have issued a Complete Catalogue of the works of Aaron Copland in booklet form, nicely bound, with facsimile of his signature on the cover in gold. The contents are listed chronologically, classified, and alphabetically, so that locating a specific number is readily done. There are several full-page illustrations from the works of this eminent composer who has meant so much to American music in so many fields of endeavor.

OPERA:

When Lukas Foss accepted the commission to write a Miniature Opera for Gian-Carlo Menotti in 1959, for his Festival of Two Worlds (Festival Dei Due Mondi) in Spoleto, Italy, little did he dream that composer Menotti, lately turned impresario, would write his libretto. After several long-distance telephone conversations, Menotti agreed to provide the libretto; and so, it arrived in America. Lukas Foss, tongue in cheek, made a hilarious nine-minute miniature opera which is called "Introductions and Good-Byes" on the one-page libretto. It calls for one soloist (the host at a cocktail party) and nine guests, with a chorus or quartet of mixed voices singing from the orchestra pit. The Prelude and Epilogue he calls "Dry-Martini-Music" and the piano-vocal score may be used with the addition of a xylophone, or, a second piano. Orchestral score may be had on rental from Carl Fischer Inc., publishers. The premiere was in June 1960 in Spoleto, Italy. The ingenuity of librettist and composer is revealed in the score which is both amusing and rewarding.

CANTATA:

Don Gillis, well known composer-conductor has written a short cantata (duration only 12 minutes) for SATB with alto or baritone solo on a patriotic theme, entitled "This Is Our America." It seems well suited for High School choral use, is spirited and not difficult to sing, and incorporates the Pledge to the Flag and a short quote from the Constitution. Piano-vocal score is easily used, or orchestral and band parts are available on rental basis from the Mills Music, Inc., publishers. The Associated Music Publishers Inc., have a timely cantata for those seeking material for programs to commemorate the Civil War Centennial. It is "A Ballad of the North and South" for mixed chorus, narrator, and band or piano, by Normand Lockwood. The text is by Paul M. Angle and Earl Schenck Miers, based on the original book, and utilizes about two thirds of the book. The music makes use or folk songs, spirituals, and patriotic songs of that period, closing with "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The brief number describing Sherman's March to the Sea may not be harmonious to Georgians, but an unprejudiced reconstructed viewpoint may be assumed. It is not difficult to sing or play from the piano score, and score and parts for band are available.

Austin Lovelace has done a superb job of musically relating the wonderful story of "Job of Uz," for mixed

30

chorus and contralto and tenor solos with the baritone part sung by Job. There is organ accompaniment to which the composer suggests adding parts for four horns, two trumpets, and two trombones to heighten the effect. It is published by Canyon Press, and the text is by Rose Myra Phillips, based on the Scriptures.

"Deo Gratias" by Thomas B. Pitfield is a short Festival cantata for choir of mixed voices, unison voices, and organ; it was composed especially for the Bowden Church Centenary. There are four parts with texts from different sources. Part 3, Praise, is an adaptation of Psalm 98 by the composer; Part 4 is Thanksgiving, with participation of the congregation in singing *Nun Danket* (Now thank we all our God) with text translated by Catherine Winkworth. It is published by Augener Ltd., whose agents are Galaxy Music Corporation.

## CHORAL:

For SSA there is a very "spring-y" bright number for three-part women's voices, "The First Day of May," a French cumulative song arranged by Gladys Pitcher who also made the translation of the text. Its beginning with "The first day of May, what shall I give my love?" and the build-up from "one partridge small who goes a-flying" to "ten calves well-fed" and the count down again, reminds one of the favorite "Twelve Days of Christmas." Variety is achieved through modulation and attractively harmonized piano accompaniment. It is from Harold Flammer, Inc. Seven Country Songs (for men's three- and four-part chorus, women's three-part and also four-part mixed voices, with piano accompaniment), by Randall Thompson, are based on poems by Robert Frost and called "Frostiana." They are romantic in mood and beautifully interpret the poems. They are dedicated to the Townspeople of Amherst, Massachusetts, on the occasion of their 200th birthday. They are presented, prior to publication, in a photolithographic print of the composer's manuscript; but such beautifully written manuscript is easy to read, and choral groups will enjoy singing them. By the same composer, Randall Thompson, is a two-part woman's chorus called "Velvet Shoes," to the poem by Elinor Wylie, another fanciful setting of a short lovely poem, with delicate piano accompaniment. They are all publications of the E. C. Schirmer Music Company.

For treble voices (SSA) is a cameo-like number called "Music, When Soft Voices Die" by A. Walter Kramer, which is a lovely setting of the poem by Shelly. It is quietly moving with

simple, unadorned piano accompaniment. A Hungarian folk-song "Shall I Marry?" has a spirited setting, with piano accompaniment for TTBB, by Eusebia S. Hunkins. Both numbers are from the Mills Music, Inc. From the B. F. Wood Music Company, is a dainty light number for SSA, "Golden Trumpets," by Edward G. Mead, text by Caroline Hazard. For TTBB, Hugh Mullins writes a very novel and amusing part song entitled "Big Three" with poem by Richard Armour, and accompaniment for piano duet. And the "big three" who regulate his life are, "my mother, daughter, and my wife," which is not unlike the pleasant situation of people in high places! It is a Summy-Birchard publication.

One of the most melodious settings of "The Twenty-Third Psalm" is that of Franz Schubert, and this new setting is edited and arranged by Ivan Trusler for SSA. There is, of course, piano accompaniment, and it is published by Edward B. Marks Music Corp. Glad Robinson Youse has written a richly harmonized anthem for SATB to be sung a cappella, after a brief introduction for piano or organ entitled "He Who Believes in Me." It is based on portions of Scripture taken from St. John, Chapters 7 and 4. It is practical and not too difficult to sing, and a publication of Remick Music Corporation. Suitable for weddings or general use, is the anthem "May the Grace of Christ" for SATB and soprano or tenor solo, by Claude Means. A short festival anthem, "Sing We Merrily" for SATB based on portions from the Psalms, is by Chaning Lefebvre, and written in vigorous style with organ accompaniment. The "Te Deum Laudamus" for unison voices by Arthur Rhea, dedicated to the Choir of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, is composed along broader lines, and a very impressive big anthem. All three are publications of the H. W. Gray Company.

From Boosey and Hawkes are two very fine choral numbers for experienced groups. "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," text by Walt Whitman, has a dramatic setting for SSATB by Virgil Thomson, with sweeping choral accompaniment, like the throbbing of the engines on a ponderous ferry. From the Brown University Choral Series is a sombre-colored number for TTBB by Carlisle Floyd, "Death Came Knocking," based on the poem by Joseph Auslander. The persistent sounding of the low bass octaves are like dark foreboding of the appearance of the Grim Reaper, and makes one have cold chills, so realistic and descriptive is it colored.

## PIANO SOLO:

Very colorful and unusual are "Themes from Eurasia" for elementary playing, by Dave Brubeck, originating on a tour made to the seven countries represented by one of the themes. They were used as basis for free improvising by the Dave Brubeck Quartet for Columbia Records. And, as his son Derry, age 12, said in the introduction: "They are fun to learn. They are challenging." They are from Shawnee Press Inc. Leeds Music Corporation has presented a most attractive album called "Japanese Festival," a collection of 17 piano solos of elementary difficulty, by Yoshinao Nakada, who might be Madam Cherry Blossom herself. Each piece is delicate and descriptive, and its title is given in Japanese symbols. A stunning sonata by Sam Ralphling in three movements, is a real challenge for any pianist. "Sonata No. 1" shows very fine musicianship and is brilliant, requiring good rhythmic feeling and interpretation for contemporary harmonies. It is a Mills Music publication. "The Little Keyboard Books" published by Stainer and Bell (Galaxy Music Corporation, Agents) contain selections written for clavichord or piano, and are fascinating in their scope. One volume is "Diversions for Clavichord" by Haward Clarke, based on a melody sung by a waggoner, and noted by Ralph Vaughan Williams. "Clavichord Music of the Seventeenth Century" is edited by Thurston Dart, and has selections by Froberger and Buxtehude and unknown composers. Alan Ridout has a "Suite for Clavichord" (or Piano) and Beryl Price has "Five Pieces For Clavichord" (or Piano). They are miniature books with different colored covers, and contents varied. "New Publications of the Works of Serge Prokofiev" are also presented by Leeds Music Corporation in their Heritage Series: "Visions Fugitives," "Sarcasms," and the complete "Episodes Op. 12" which had not previously appeared as one volume. "Pastoral Ode" by the English composer, Cyril Scott, is in this composer's impressionistic style, and interesting to play, and pianistic. It is from Elkin & Co. Ltd., (Galaxy Music Corp. Agents.)

### Important

On December 29, 1961, the Headquarters of the National Federation of Music Clubs moved to the following new address:

Suite 1215
600 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago 5, Illinois
Telephone: 427-3683

See Editor's Recital, Page 32, for details.

Winter, 1961-1962

31

## CALENDAR

### 1962

**January 17** James Mathis in Carnegie Hall Recital, NFMC Young Artist award given by Van Cliburn in memory of Theodore Steinway

**February 1-28** Parade of American Music

**15** Deadline for receiving applications in the State for Student Auditions

Peabody Conservatory of Music Scholarship

Shreveport Symphony—Centenary College Scholarships

Millikin University Music Scholarships

Eastman School of Music Violin Scholarship

New School of Music Scholarships

Manhattan School of Music Scholarships

Marie Morrisey Keith Scholarship

Guy Maier Memorial Award

**15** Deadline for entry National Music Camp and Reader's Digest Scholarships

**15** Deadline for applications for Music Therapy Scholarships to reach National Chairman

**March 1** Deadline for applications for Stillman Kelley auditions to reach State Chairman (or State President)

**1-15** State Student Auditions

**10** Deadline for Parade Reports to be considered for award of merit

**15-31** District Student Auditions

**15** Deadline for entry for Scholarships
Anne M. Gannett
Charles Ives
Francis Rogers
Arizona All-State High School Music Camp
Aspen Music School
Berkshire, Ada Holding Miller
Foster Music Camp
Inspiration Point
Int. H. S. Music Camp,
Agnes Jardine
Kneisel Hall
Meadowmount
Music Academy of the West
Oglebay Opera Workshop
Rocky Ridge Music Center
Sewanee Music Center
Transylvania Music Camp

**April 1** Stillman Kelley tapes or records postmarked and sent to National Chairman

**10** Due date for tapes of District Student winners to reach National Student Auditions Chairman

**10** Young Composers Contest closes

**Spring** Junior Festivals—Dates vary in the States

**May 6-13** National Music Week with theme "Let the World Rejoice with Music"

## Editor's Recital

MANY people head southward in the winter. And NFMC Headquarters is no exception. Between Christmas and New Years, our Headquarters office moved from 410 South Michigan to 600 South Michigan in Chicago.

And we went up in the world too—from Suite 900 in our former location to Suite 1215 in our new home.

To take you on a picture tour of our new Headquarters, we start on Michigan Avenue opposite Grant Park. We enter 600 South Michigan, the Fairbanks-Morse Building, and soar in self-operated elevators to the 12th floor. At the end of a long corridor stand double-doors with frosted-glass panels—and the NFMC insignia says we are home.

We walk into a suite which is completely wood-paneled with parquet floors, flourescent lighting, decorative and useful built-in cabinets and cupboards. Windows in the five-room suite face south, west, and north—and Lake Michigan is visible from the south and north windows if anyone on the busy staff has time to look.

Missing in the new location is our addressograph equipment which has been profitably sold to allow our lists to be efficiently kept by list specialists located nearby in Chicago.

The old familiar battle of the budget occasioned this move, and we have located in a suite which is more efficiently arranged in 620 square feet less space than we formerly occupied. And we have gained a more modern suite with greatly improved lighting facilities and ventilation.

So, those of you who have visited us before in our lovely former suite must came again to see our new look.

And those of you who have never visited us will find a space reserved for you in our visitors' book—which has the signatures of all who have come to see us since our gala opening in Chicago in January of 1960.

l.w.

PATENTED PRAISES

By Virgil Thomson

Not long ago, the present writer, having occasion to enter a Baptist church, emigrated from that tabernacle with a thin red book entitled *Treasury of Song* (Dallas, Texas, 1917). It is seemingly a not unknown work, because a foreword by the editor-compiler-publisher informs one that "many millions of Christian people have been enabled to SING PRAISES TO HIM" from the more than 2,000,000 of his song-books which have been printed and distributed in the past eight years". There exists, in fact, from various publishers, a score of little books bound in gay cloth, called *Songs of Service, Gospel Hymns, Heavenly Strains, and so on*. The titles vary, but the contents are identical, at least in style. And the forewords all attest that millions of copies have been printed and sold.

The size of this industry may to some appear as preposterous as the religion which it nourishes. Nevertheless, both are matters of fact. This cult, which is one of SUCCESS in love, forms, with the cult of SUCCESS in business, the great popular religion of our time. Individualistic and protestant, it has even found a shelter in the fold of Rome itself, as witness the erotic evangelism of the Passionist Fathers and the enormous popularity of the devotions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us observe it through the little red song-book; and let us, for historical purposes, compare that anthology with another which came to the writer's attention about the same time, a volume of hymns published in 1843 for use in Baptist churches. The first 205 of these, 192 of which are copyrighted, are apparently for general use.

42 *Special Selections*, of which 39 are copyrighted, seem to be meant for choir-singing.

116 *Devotional Hymns* are printed three to a page in condensed and unleaded 6-point type. They include some well-known songs of an evangelical character, like "Just As I Am" and "Bringing In the Sheaves", and several classics, like "How Firm a Foundation" and "Nearer, My God, to Thee". There are only 21 copyrights among them.

Last, in larger type again, come 14 *Male and Temperance* selections, 13 of them copyrighted.

Omitting the *Special Selections* and the *Male and Temperance* group as not suited for congregational use, and throwing out the familiar *Devotional Hymns* as deliberately illegible, it may be presumed that numbers 1 to 295, practically all of them of recent manufacture, constitute, for worshippers using that book, their Sunday musical diet, and the list of religious senti-

My Jesus, I Love Thee

2

ments allowed vocal expression.

36 of these hymns are evangelical exhortations,

28 explain the benefits of conversion,

25 anticipate or describe Heaven,

13 are for children,

6 are prayerful,

4 are military,

3 predict the Judgement Day,

1 is about Mother,

1 recalls with pleasure a little brown church in the wildwood, and
91 confess erotic feeling for the person of Jesus.

This classification is only approximate, of course, because exhortations to the unsaved not infrequently recount the benefits of conversion, and descriptions of Heaven are likely to include the tenderest references to Jesus's breast and to mention the joy with which He will be united to each of us privately and personally. The sentiment throughout, in fact, is an eroticism turned inward by social taboos and converted thus to autoeroticism. And the private sensations of these converted souls, as expressed in caressing phrase and hypnotic refrain, are the data from which we may construct their perhaps incredible, but none the less quite definite, theology. Its definiteness you cannot doubt, if you but read their words: God moves in no mysterious way for these illumined writers. In fact, God the Father scarce - only intereststhem: Jesus, the perfect, though very human, "lover of my soul", is the deity.

"Love is the theme", "love for you, love for me". It is the "old, old story". "Tenderly pleading", He waited "all the night long", "knocking, knocking at the gate". Those who had "tasted his delights" called to me "in His name". "Heed," they onied, "the knock of the nail-pierced hand!" "Resist Him no more!" "Let Him have His way with thee!" In brief, "tho I spurned Him, He with kindness my rebellious heart did woo". Yes, wooed with "rich gifts", until I "surrendered all". That is, at least, "I gave Him my heart", and "He called me His beloved and His own".

"I am now, "happy as the days go by" with my "kind, compassionate friend". "I "tell Him every longing that throbs within my breast", and "He gives relief"; "He satisfies me". All He asks is that I be "true to Him" and "tell of His love" to others. The more devoted my activity in this regard, the "sweeter His rewards of love, foretastes of the feast above". "Ah! Sweet indeed", are these foretastes. But "they are as nothing" compared to the ultimate consummation which will take place: "some sweet day" beside a

4

howling soldiers or Alexander's Ragtime Band, is not easy to regulate. For the first time in history, pure harmony, reduced to the tabloid form of tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords, had been put on the market for popular trade. The folk took it up like a new vice. They became addicted and forgot how to think melodically. Indeed, from that day to ours, the power of folk-song, of melodic generation, has been sterile in English-speaking peoples; and among such highly musical races as the negroes and Hawaiians, we have recently witnessed the extinction of other vigorous natives styles by this insidious Methodist harmony.

Now the tonic and its dominants are the guiding points in any music, even the fluid plain-song. A sophisticated attention to them made possible the most expressive compositions of Palestrina and the fugues of J.S. Bach. But music is primarily rhythmic and melodic, because rhythm and melody are forms of movement. Harmony, the tonic and dominant contrast, is a sort of dike to render definite & the direction of this flow. To mistake harmony for music is to take the dam for the river. Because of itself, it is immobile, without force, vitality, or expression.

The tunes of my little red treasury, though they show an initiation into musical vice undreamed of in the days of the Wesleys, are nevertheless the present products of that early mistake about the function of harmony; and they are, if I may continue the fluid figure, neither dammed nor directed. They know neither the controlled expression of classic hymn-music nor the passionate outbursts of the primitive sects. Like the stanzas that accompany, they tease the worshipper with suggestive and titillating phrases. But they do not really make sense. Muffled pulsations from the dance-hall are unquestionably implied beneath their bouncing syncopations; and there is no doubt that the writers have attempted to seduce, or at least to tickle, by means of chromatic harmony and the Viennese waltz. Half the pieces are, in fact, written in triple time; and more than nine-tenths of them contain non-modulatory chromatics. Yet, even as dance-musio, they lack the energy that moves muscles.

They are, to begin with, perfectly dead, because they are nothing but melodized harmony. Rhythm seems to have been applied to them like a pulmotor or a galvanic battery. Chromatics have forced their rigid parts into suggestive postures. And hypnotic incantations have been intoned. But the only response has been some awkward, jerkings which the most deluded worshipper could scarcely interpret as gestures from a god. Rhythmic tricks from Africa, melodic formulae from the Scottish highlands, fragments of English folk-dance, strains from the cafes of Vienna, clusters of notes suitable for every instrument known to man except the human voice, have

5

all been offered up in a copyrighted love-song to the person of Our Lord. Now his own response to this may be vague. But there is no real doubt that for the devotee the concert acts, and is intended to act, as an aphrodisiac for private devotions which, considering their frankly erotic imagery, can scarcely be of a highly sublimated character.

The source, but genuinely philosophic, anabaptism of the seventeenth century and its more genteel descendant, the hymn-book of 1843, are, alike, children of the humanistic, the intellectual tradition. The state of faith which the Treasury of Song makes manifest in 1917 is obscurantist andREVIVISTIC. The lyric and sub-infantile expansionism, often before described in these pages, is probably a result of the rise to affluence, and consequent overfeeding, of the lower classes. But I have no wish here to attempt the apiritual genealogy of America. I only note a dependence of revivalism upon the powers of music and call attention to the fact that an ignorant, uncontrolled, and of late unscrupulous exploitation of those powers has arrested whatever progress our popular religion may have made toward an impersonal and contemplative worship and turned it into an egocentric, orgiastic and APOSTOLICAL SOURCE OF GRAVE AND MODEST STRAINS.

are really in no great favor among us. We like rather the "broken strains and plaintive numbers of the Carian muse," which "corrupt men's morals by drawing them through the licentious and mischievous eunuch of music."

Thomson, Virgil
Patented Praises

[Paris? 1925]

t.ms., 6p. (with autograph corrections)

See Also: Virgil Thomson

My Jesus, I Love Thee

The earlier hymnal is handsomely bound, cleanly printed on good paper, and is cross-indexed. That of 1917 is well-enough sewed, but the paper is a little fuzzy and the type quite poor, in places almost illegible. The indices are both illegible and inadequate. The book of 1645 contains a dozen stanzas that even make sense; to print them alone would be unthinkable. The other collection of hymns of Watts and Cowper, which contains 1500 poems which express in the best style a complete repertory of religious feeling. It includes some early American versions of the psalms from Saint Bernard and other medieval writers. The little red treasury contains words and music for 380 pieces, arranged as follows:

t. and a. ms., llp. (with ten-page
carbon typescript copy)

See Also: Thomson, Virgil
Patented Praises

MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE
By Virgil Thomson

Not long ago, the present writer, having had occasion in
an American city to enter a Baptist church, emerged from that
tabernacle with a thin red book entitled Treasury of Song
(Dallas, Texas, 1917). This is seemingly not an unknown work,
because a foreword by the editor-compiler-publisher informs
one that "many millions of Christian people have been enabled
to 'SING PRAISES TO HIM' from the more than 8,000,000 of his
song-books which have been printed and distributed in the
past eight years". There exist, in fact, from various publish-
ers, a score of little books bound in gay cloth, called Songs
of Service, Gospel Hymns, Heavenly Strains, and so on. The
titles vary, but the contents are identical, at least in
style. And the forewords all attest that millions of copies
have been printed and sold.

The size of this industry may to some appear as prepost-
erous as the religion which it nourishes. Nevertheless, both
are matters of fact. This cult, which is one of SUCCESS in
love, forms, along with the cult of SUCCESS in business, the
popular religion of our time. Individualistic and protestant,
it has even found shelter in the fold of Rome itself, as wit-
ness the erotic evangelism of the Passionist Fathers and the
devotions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us observe it
through the little red song-book, and let us, for historical
purposes, compare that anthology with another which came to

Ms. Coll.

Thomson

Thomson, Virgil

My Jesus, I Love Thee

[Paris, 1925]

ReceIVED

ten

the past century are due no doubt to causes over which we have
had no control and of which we have perhaps no knowledge. I
could not, if I wished, trace here the spiritual genealogy of
America, I only observe an example of the present state of
faith and morals, note the dependence of present ritual upon
the powers of music, and call attention to the fact that an
ignorant, uncontrolled, and unscrupulous exploitation of
those powers has flourished and greatly profited by this exploit-
tation has been accompanied by the transformation of an imper-
sonal and contemplative worship into an egocentricity that is
at once orgiastic and constipated. That music can be an ag-
gravating agent in such changes, all history demonstrates.
Saint Clement of Alexandria, seeking to restrain excesses of
emotion in the religion of his day, would have had honest
Christians definitely eschew certain formulas, notably all
chromatic and syncopations. "Brave and modest strains" he
praised, for they "say farewell to the turbulence of drunken-
ness." But the "broken strains and plaintive numbers of a Carian
muse," whether heard at worship or at feasting, he averaged, poor,
rupt men's morals by leading to perniciousness of the mind through
licentious and mischievous musical devices.

Virgil Thomson
98 rue de Provence, Paris (g)

My Jesus, I Love Thee
[Paris, 1925]

t. and à. ms., llp. (with ten-page
carbon typescript copy)

To: Also: Thomson, Virgil
Patented Praises

I C

two

the writer's attention about the same time, a volume of hymns
published in 1943 for use in Baptist churches.

The earlier hymnal is handsomely bound, cleanly printed,
and cross-indexed. That of 1917 is well-enough sewn, but
the paper is fussy and the type quite poor, in places almost
illegible. The indices are both illegible and inadequate.
The book of 1843 contains words only. The other contains
scaroely a dozen stanzas that make sense; to print them alone
would be impossible. The older collection contains 1500 poems
expressing in respectable language a complete repertory of
religious feeling. It includes the hymns of Watts and Cowper,
metrical versions of the psalms by Tate and Braiy, some Ameri-
can versions of the same, and the usual translations from
Saint Bernard and other medieval writers. The little red
treasury contains words and music for 880 pieces, arranged
as follows:

The first 206 of these, 192 of which are copyrighted,
are apparently for general use.

48 Special Selections, of which 39 are copyrighted, seem
to be meant for choir-singing.

116 Devotional Hymns are printed three to a page in bound-
densed and unloaded 6-point type. They include some well-
known songs of an evangelical character, like "Just As I Am"
and "Bringing In The Sheaves", and several classics, like

Thomson, Virgil

See Also: Thomson, Virgil
Patented Hraises

three

"How Firm a Foundation" and "Wearer, My God, to Thee", There
are only 81 copyrights among them,

Last, in larger type again, come 14 Male and Temperance
selections, 13 of them copyrighted,

Omitting the Special Selections and the Male and Temperance
group as not suited for congregational use, and throwing out
the familiar Devotional Hymns as deliberately illegible, it
may be presumed that numbers 1 to 206, practically all of
them of recent manufacture, constitute, for worshippers
using that book, their Sunday musical diet and the list of
religious sentiments allowed vocal expression,

38 explain the benefits of conversion,

35 anticipate or describe Heaven,

13 are for children,

6 are prayerful,

4 are military,

3 predict the Judgment Day,

1 is about Mother,

91 confess erotic feeling for the person of Jesus,

This classification is only approximate, of course, because
exhortations to the unsaved not infrequently recount the bene-

Ms Coll

Thomson |

Thomson, Virgil
My Jesus, I Love Thee
[Paris, 1925]
t. and a. ms., llp. (with ten-page
carbon typescript copy)

four

fits of conversion, and descriptions of Heaven are likely
to include the tenderest references to Jesus's breast and to
mention the joy with which He will be united to each of us
privately and personally. The sentiment throughout, in fact,
is an eroticism turned inward by taboos and the private
sentences of these converted souls, as reported in carressing
phrase and hypnotic refrain, are the data from which we may
construct their perhaps incredible, but none the less quite
definite, theology. Its definiteness you cannot doubt, if
you but read their words. God moves in no mysterious way for
these illumined writers. In fact, God the Father scarcely
interests them. Jesus, the perfect, though very human, "lover
of my soul", is the deity.

"Love is the theme", "love for you, love for me". It is
the "old, old story", "Tenderly pleading", He waited "all
the night long", "knocking, knocking at the gate". Those who
had "tasted his delights" called to me "in His name", "Hear,"
they dried, "the knock of the nail-pierced hand!" "Resist
Him no more!" "Let Him have His way with thee!" In brief,
"tho I spurned Him. He with kindness my rebellious heart
did woo", Yes, wooed with "rich gifts", until I "surrendered
all". That is, at least, "I gave Him my heart", and "He called
me His beloved and His own".

carbon typescript copy

five

I am now "happy as the days go by" with my "kind, com-
passionate Friend". I "tell Him every longing that throbs
within my breast", and "He gives relief"; "He satisfies me".
All He asks is that I be "true to Him"; and that I "tell of
His love" to others. The more devoted my activity in the
latter regard, the "sweeter His rewards of love, foretastes
of the feast above", "Ah! sweet indeed" are these foretastes.
But "they are as nothing" compared to the ultimate consumma-
tion which will take place "some sweet day", beside a "beauti-
ful river", where, "safe on His gentle breast", I shall "help
His reign" over a state which obviously needs no government,
and "sit on a throne" in a court "where all are equal" and
where

"... in sweet communion blend

Heart with heart and friend with friend

In a world that never shall end".

All this is simply a fixation of the libido upon an unat-
tainable object. The unattainable object has two advantages,
It does not tempt to infractions of that imaginary social
code which is such a terror to Americans. And it is easily
identified with the self, since, in this case, the object
has no existence outside the mind. All the material necessary
for a love-affair being thus comprised within the ego, con-
sumation is no longer endangered. 800,000,000 is assured, The