ANCtiCalf Apish Period eat Ceitter
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PAGE FIVE
Tif E9LTROLT ILWISR OROXICLE
Leo Ornstein, Modernistic Composer
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1
By HEYMAN ZIMEL.
Chanukah Greetings To Everybody
In the last quarter of a century, music. His concerts in London in
II the arts — (hums, painting, 1911 were peered at, and one of th
sculpture, poetry, music — have London papers wrote, "If the hall
been racked by a new aesthetic mark of greatness is laughter, Mr
meivement, the movement called Ornstein may be hailed as a gen
expressionism. The drama has ius." The London Observer did no
given rise to the school of eve's, try to be facetious. Its critics
Toiler and Raiser and Itasen- %credo, "We have never suffered
klever. Painting has passed from such insufferable hideousness,
from the post-impressionism of expressed in terms of so-called
Gauguin. Cezanne, and Van Gogh, music.
and in the technique of Matisse and
Just what is it that Ornstein has
Picasso, is frankly calling itself done that has provoked these critics
expressionistic. Sculpture has giv- to such violent disapproval? Ile
en us the elemental stylization of has, like a good many (other mod-
Brancusi. Poetry, too, has given ern composers, discarded the tradi-
rise to a group of men—notably F. tional diatonic scale. He refuses
E. Cummings—who, while they , to recognize the difference between
would probably not consent to he an harmonious chord and a &oi-
thus pigeon-holed, yet are striving 1 cord. He maintains that the-re are
to achieve aims similar to those of I no discords, but that our untrained
the expressionists in other fields. and unaccustomed ears are at fault
Finally the cardinal aims of the in considering a certain combina-
expressionists are manifest in the tion of notes discordant. Ile has
principles of many modernistic not striven to produce pleasant
composers, chiefly Schoenberg, melodies, but has concentrated on
Honnegger, and, especially, Leo color and rhythm, and mood.
Ornstein. What then is this ex-
That he is sincere there is no
pressionism which is revolutioniz-
question—this man whom James
ing and revitalizing all fields of
Huneker called "the only true-blue
art?
genuine Futurist composer alive."
Simply stated, expressionism is
Even as a concert-pianist, even in
the attempt to get down to essen-
his mannerisms and eccentricities,
tials, to rid life of all details which
there is no attempt at affectation
are unnecessary to the ultimate
and no indication of the poseur.
meaning, and to interpret it in art
The man earnestly believes that he
by penetrating to the essence. It
has discovered a new musical lan-
is an effort tee represent the haste guage, a new
music based upon his
meaning, to depict the metaphysical
own emotional laws. His new
"thing-in-itself" of the subject it
technique arises not from the wish
L T
L
considers. Brancusi, calling one of to he different or original but from
I
his carvings in marble "Fish," has
the crying need of his nature. He
not given us a pietorially faithful
fecund the traditional forms of the
representation of a fish. Ile has
major-minor system inadequate and
attempted to convey the essence of
incapable of expressing his own
the thing called a fish. to reproduce
emotions. "I find," he said, "that
abstract "fish-ness." Honnegger, in
existing tonal idioms do not allele,-
his "Pacific 231," has tried te, make
me the perfect expression of all
his instruments portray the soul
that I wish tee say musically. And
of a great machine, the modern
I have had to find a language of
locomotive. Into this class do the
my own . . . I have my diatonic
compositions of Leo Ornstein fall.
and lyric moments and on occasion
•
Ornstein's music is as amorphous
I employ the diatonic scale for the
and chaotic as the life it seeks tc
simple reason that my own radical
interpret. It is intensely expres-
medium does not suit the purpose
sive of the strange and opposing
of what I want to say The sin-
forces which have moulded the
cere composer does not choose a
character of the composer. For
medium—the medium chooses him."
Ornstein is a Jew, a refugee from
That Ornstein's new manner is
Russia, a youth of New York's
an effective one becomes apparent
Eastside. These are the three eta.
upon hearing his music. His music
ments which are pre-eminent in the
is not lyrical, nor beautiful in the
strange and impressive MUSie of
conventional sense. Much of it is
this man. His compositions arc
ugly, with an intense and absorbing
eloquent with the sombre mysticism
ugliness. All of his music is mov-
of Russia, with the throbbing, pul-
ing and powerful, full eel an un-
sating spirit of American life, with
canny power of interpreting a sub-
the challenge of a rejuvenescent
ject and laying it bare to the
Ilebrew spirit.
hearer.
Concerning this last, Paul Rosen-
In his "Deux Impressions de
feld has profound and beautiful
things to say: "He is the resur- Notre Dante" he has tried to ex-
rection of the most entombed of press the very wail of this vast
spirits, that of the outlaw Euro- symphony in stone,' as Victor Hugo
pean Jew. Ile is the breaking dowd calls it, to recreate the very spirit
Empire 1334.
of the walls with which the Jew• of those deep space dimensions re-
had blotted out the hateful world. verberating with the passionate
He is Lazarus emerging in his prayers, hopes, and aspirations of
grave clothes into a new world; the past centuries." The first part of
Jewish spirit comes up into the day this is full of a mystical cloistral
from out the basement and cellar dignity and solemnity. It is writ-
rooms of the synagogue where it ten with broad strokes, conveying
?
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had been seated for a thousand a picture of calm and religious pro- lack of appreciation of his workd --
years (Bugging itself with rabbin- fundity and mystery. In the sec- that he himself has begot tee doubt
ical
lore, refining almost maniacal. ond part, the music portrays the whether he' shall ever lee able to ex-
*44.
■
tkIS
ly upon the intention of some oh- coming to life, of the gargoyles. press adequately his chaotic
scure phrase or parable, negating Ornstein is at his best in such con- thoughts through his more chaotic
the lure of the world and of ex- fused and chaotic effusions. The style. All this I doubt. I prefer to
perience with a mass of rites and music surges and vibrates in gro- accept foul Rosenfeld's explana-
■
observances and ceremonials, los- tesque disorder. It is weird and tion. Ornstein's temporary silence,
full of grim humor, like the ghastly
the Dial's critic believes, is merely
A47 ing Itself in the gray desert
4 :
stretches of theory, or wasting it- and pathetic perversions of the gar- "a period of transition, a time of
self in the impossible dream of goyles' features.
the marshaling of forces to a new
His "Impression de la Tamise," and fiercer onslaught."
Zion restored in modern Palestine ,
and Solomon's Temple rebuilt in a ; which has for its subject the
Ornstein has thrown open new
provincial capital of the Turkish ichurch at Westminster, is pos- vistas of musical possibility. In
YN,
sessed of a somber vigor trod star- his hands music has become not
Empire."
tit!
Leo Ornstein is still a very young tling intensity. Ornstein again only a pleasant form of entertain-
j titan. lie was born in the town of shows his ability to perceive the ment but also a profound interpre-
Kremenchug, in the southwestern essence of his subject and to trans- tation and criticism of life. Rhythm
11'41. part of Russia, on December 11, late it into musical terms.
and harmony have become cere-
1895. His father was a cantor and'
Ornstein's most celebrator work bralized creatures of thought. His
rabbi in the local synagogue, see is the "Wild Men's Dance." It is excursions into musical creation
that the boy's childhood won spent his most typical composition, a have been the search not for super-
in an orthodox and musical atmos- piece of sheer , vital , incarnate ficial beauty but for essential
phere. At the exceedingly early rhythm. It is the expression of a truth, and his listeners will yet
age of three, the child began the soul in conflict, a being at war with conic to realize that truth is the
study of the piano, and very soon itself. Beauty it has, but not beau- greatest beauty to be sought by the
gave unmistakable, signs of an ex- ty as it is ordinarily conceio col It arts.—Wnai li'rith Magazine.
traordinary talent. His father, is rather the beauty of a toroado or
quir k to sense the remarkable gifts an avalanche, the terrifying beauty
of his son, sent him to Kiev to of a thunder-storm, the awkward
study. Before the boy was ten grace of a massive and terrible
years old he was able to enter the beast.
Conservatory of Petrograd, where
One cannot dispute about such
he studied under the famous Pm , - music—one can only feel it, and
sian composer, Glazeeunov. While this, according to Ornstein, is the
studying at Petrograd, he wit- sim of it. Paul Rosenfeld has put
1;;;;:seel the horrible massacres it well when lie says that "While Bad Faith Is Charged When
vc Inch teak place during the revolu-
one speculates whether these pieces
Government Withdraws
tion of 1905. These cruelties left are music or met, one discovers
a profound impression on the sen- that one has entercel through them
School Bill.
s It eve mind of the youth and to this into the life of another being."
;Loy, Ornstein says that his chief One cannot receive this mask pas-
BUDAPEST.—(J. T. A.)—Ru-
recollection of Russia is of these sively, as one does a shower bath.
horrors. Anti-Semitism in Russia One reacts towards it, one strug- morn to the effect that the Hunger.
ian government will withdraw the
now reached unbearable bounds, gles with it, one live; it.
bill it has introduced into pediment
and finally the boy with his family
The "Dwarf Suite" again proves
to modify the numerus clausus law C. W. Nash Gives Views
Ornstein's understanding of the es-
!',1 fled tee America in 1907.
Quality — Service — Co.operation — Reasonable Prices
Advertising,
After the terror of Russia, sence of the subject he considers. limiting the number of Jewish stu-
America, even the squalidity, of The suite is symboit• of the CoM• dents to five percent of the total
number
admitted
to
the
universi-
2732 - 2739 GUOIN STREET
Attorney Street, was a blessing. poser 's beliefs.
"No advertisement ever con-
It opens with
Here he could calmly continue his "Dawn," tragic, somber, gray. ties and colleges were afloat today ceived is as effective, in my opin-
Edgewood
in Hungary's capital as the bloody
musical studies, which, naturally, There follows the exciting "Dense
as the word-eel-mouth adver.
ion,
Twenty-seven Years Practical E.rio r o TICC in Detroit.
occupied his desires and ambitions des Gnomes," with its exhilarating riots against the Jewish students tising of the satisfied owner."
continued. Many of the .Jewish
comp etey. He attended the In- rhythm. This is followed by the
The
foregoing statement by C.
students were injured in the at-
stitute of Musical Art and later the funeral march, in which one gets
W. Nash sums up the message he
'.o-i-".t'ses'sr'S New York Conservatory of Music. a vision of hopeless grief, of pro- tacks made on them in the class- delivered to 90 Nash service and
rooms. Several had their noses
Ornstein's first public concert found pathos, with an undercurrent
parts manageia, gathered at the
took place at the New Amsterdam of fierce irony. The "Serenaders." broken .
The newspaper Magyar Szag factory in Kenosha for their fifth
theater in New York on March 5, a sensuous and tender piece, is fol-
learns that as a result of the riots annual meeting. Those in attend.
1911. Ile was proclaimed by all lowed by a picture of the dwarf at
the government will withdraw the ance were the men in charge of
the critics as one of the most mars- work—a picture of the monotony
bill until March. In the meantime, Nash servrre for the company's
pious young pianists that had ever of endless sameness. The final it was stated, the Hungarian gov- distributors from all parts of the
been heard in America. While at movement is the "Nlarche Grte,- • ernment has requested the Secre- country. They listened to talks
• the Conservatory, Ornstein had al-; pm," in which the dwarf, after fu
tariat of the League of Nations to by Mr. Nash, J. T. Wilson and M.
ready attracted attention with hi , tile struggle, with the cruel reali-
postpone a consideration by the II. Pettit, vice-presidents of the
virtuosity, and in an editorial in ties of life, gives himself over to Council of the League of Nations company; L. L. Virgil, factory
the New York Evening Journal of a violent and artificial attempt at at its March session of the memo- service manager; George G. Gie-
June II, 1910, Arthur Brisbane , forgetfulness through the oblivion
randum submitted by Lucien Wolf selman, assistant service manager,
had written: "We bylieve that this , of a passionate dance. The com-
in behalf of the Joint Foreign Corn. and others.
boy, providentially saved from Rus-e position ends on the keynote of de-
Mr. Nash, at the outset, made it
mittee of the Board of Jewish Dep-
sin, brought up in the poverty of a I spondency and futility.
uties and the Anglo-Jewish Asso- plain that no department in the
great city, will stand with the great
Ornstein's power of evoking
ciation of London. In this memo- entire Nash factory or dealer or-
musicians of the world, on a par definite moods is shown in his
randum, Lucien Wolf set forth the zanization was of "more vital im•
with the greatest interpreters of numerous short pieces—the "Pre- grievance of the Jewish e mmittee portance to the continued success
musical salmis and perhaps among ludes," the "Three Messrs t angerj
against the discrimination prac- of the busiio:es" than that of sere.
the greatest musical creators!"
; peace, joy), "Pieces a Silhouette,
ticed by the Hungarian government Ice to the owner.
This praise was all for Ornstein's land the pieces for the piano. and against the failure to comply
"It has been my observation,"
ability as a performer. And in- Through most of them there runs
with the promise made to t he C oun- said Mr. Nash, "that taking the au.
deed, Ornstein is one of the most the strain of despondency anol lack cil by Count Klehelsberg that the tomobile industry as a whole, too
facile and (original of pianists, with of faith in life. His cello sonata, numerus clausus law would be little attention is given the cus-
a remarkable technical kill.
al•rs
He- his violin sonata, his concerto, his withdrawn .
tomer after he has once paid out
llas rcvolutilinized the technique of quartets, his orchestra suite., "The
Opposition deputies were frank good money for a motor car. A
the fingers, and of the pedals. Life of Man" (after Andreyev I. C today in expressing their belief situation such as that is funda-
There are few• pianists who have his "Poems of 1917"—all are im- that the riots were desired by the mentally wrong."
such command over the color and bued with a somber melancholy. re- government in order that it might
nuance of pedalling as Ornstein. in lieved at fitful intervals by mo- be able to show public opinion
playing, he makes use not only of ments of passionate and evanescent abroad that "the wrath of the pen-
Even a dead cherry tree can
the tips of his fingers, but also his joy. Yet Ornstein is capable at plc" prevented it from complying
bring picturesqueness to • bar-
knuckles and the palms of his times of a lovely lyrical tenderness, with its promise to withdraw tbe
ren hill.
hands. Of course, much of this and sometimes of a boisterous hu- numerus claims law.
style of playing he has had to mor. "La Mexicana" is written in
Laughter cannot bring back
a graceful and colorful vein. "A
When families quarrel outsiders what anger has driven away.
evolve
in the
order
to he able
play ; la ('hinoise" is an exotic. oriental.
some of
unusual
and to
unpre-
deride.
cedented chords which he himself , tender piece, and his burlesques of
There are gods in everything—
had written.
Richard Strauss are with, and ac-
10209 WOODWARD AVENUE
Tell everybody your business, even in heir.
If Ornstein has achieved almost tually playful.
Ornstein of late has not been and the Devil will do it for you.
universal acknowledgment of his
Arlington 6010-6011.
The drunkard knows not the
ability as a pianist. he has also sue- writing with his former fecundity.
Even in a village of eight there's shame of wine—nor the abstinent
are he already
beginning
' ceeded in provoking critics into the I Pessimists
to assert that
has succumbed
to
generally
a
patriot
to
be
found.
its
glow.
most violent diatribes against his
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