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April 30, 1959 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1959-04-30

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Sixty-Ninth Year
- DITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
When Opinions A'e Free UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Truth Will Prevail'" STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

INCLUDES CONTEMPORARY WORKS:

66th

May

Festival

Begins

AY,.APRIL 30, 1959

NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT JUNKER

The Faculty Senate
Takes Welcome Initiative

v

CLOUD of confusion remains over the Uni-
versity's 1953 dismissal of Prof. Mark Nick-
rson of the pharmacology department and H.
handler Davis of the mathematics depart-
aent.
Hundreds of reports, -petitions and letters
.ave been written in protest and defense of
heir refusal to tell a House Un-American Ac-
vities Committee about ,their possible affilia-
ions with the Communist Party. The two fac-
lty 'members' final dismissal came after
ionths of administrative and faculty hearings
unctuated by student marches, faculty peti
ions and other similar protests.
The American Association stepped in and
onsidered the 1953 cases for five years before
nally unraveling the numerous hearings and
ensuring the University. The charge was a vio-
ition of "generally accepted principles of aca-
emic freedom and tenure."
This AAUP censure of a year ago has yet to
ecome a threat to the retention of the Uni-

Those Fear

THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING limbo of "apa-
thy" has not yet overtaken the entire stu-
dent body, despite 'the fears of practically
everybody. Assembly Dormitory Council mem-
bers struck a blow against that vague student
disease recently b1y defeating a motion to es-
tablish a committee to consider changes in
future Assembly Association elections.
The members of ADC expressed cofncern that
they were slipping into the role of mere."yes-
men" for organization committees rather than
representatives of independent women's opin-
ion as they are supposed to be. Their fears
are based on the fact that the ADC's composi-
tion Was cut drastically last semester in order
to give more responsibility to representatives.
No changes have yet been made in its format
which would do this. The meetings have be-
come more informal, since more people know
each other by name, and no doubt a greater
percentage of the representatives attend meet-
ings now; but because of this they have an
even greater obligation to be sensitive to their
constituents.
BECAUSB recommendations by committees
continue to precede any discussion by the
group, the representatives. have not played a
more active role.
It apparently seemed slightly incongruous

versity's highly-rated faculty. A University
vice-president recently remarked that there
are still no signs of faculty unrest due to the
AAUP condemnation. And University deans are
probably paying little attention to the censure
with the impending threat of payless faculty
paydays.
BUT DESPITE the relative weakness of the
AAUP's action, the censure remains as a
blemish on the University's impressive record
of academic freedom. The Faculty Senate's
proposed revision of the Regent's By-Law is
an attempt to remove this blemish and finally
to prevent similar confusion from arising again.
Although the Faculty Senate has not out-
lined what the changes would be, a member
has said they would not be drastic and the
basic dismissal procedure would be continued.
But minor changes may have far-reaching ef-
fects on faculty rights.
The Faculty Senate has taken the initiative.
-BARTON HUTHWAITE
ful Women
to the outspoken Sembers at Monday's meet-
ing that six or eight committeewomen were to
present a motion concerning the ADC presi-
dent's election -before representatives had dis-
cussed the issue with the people they were sup-
posed to represent.
These women argued that it would be much
simpler, and more in keeping with the idea that
they each represent a specific segment of the
independent body, to find out what the inde-
pendent student body thinks before any mo-
tion is considered.
IT MIGHT MEAN that meetings would last
a bit longer, for talking about a subject new
to everyone takes more time than discussing
the reasons a committee gives for its recom-
mendation .The advantages to be gained, how-
ever, more than offset the inconveniences. A
decision made after thorough discussion with
22 other delegates presenting the ideas of a
large segment of the independent population
is of obvious value.
The adequacy of any system, of course, de-
pends upon the sincerity and efforts of the
people within it. The effectiveness of group as
opposed to committee action cannot be judged
until it is tried, but the ADC members' enthu-
siasm may well be a deciding factor in proving
that committees are sometimes expendable.
-KATHLEEN MOORE

CONDUCTS OWN WORKS: * *

v irgu1 lnomson:
Composer Critic
By PETER DAWSON
Daily Staff Writer

By GORD
Daily St
BET wEEN th
and 1918 fo
ing composers,
nov, Igor Strav
ner, and Serg

" ELDOM DOES a musical action of any kind speak clearly, simply, grated fim the
without detours," Virgil Thompson wrote in a review in 1948. and America Ra
Composers as well as performers, he said, "have trouble communi- a bulwark of
cating, especially American composers. They make you great, big, with musical ra
beautiful, shapely structures; but it is not always clear what purpose, ner receded in
with regard to living these are intended to fulfill." scurityd
Thomson, who will conduct three of his own works Saturday Prokofiev's c
afternoon, has tried to get away from that in his own music, making most curious.I
it clear, concise and direct. He is a skillful craftsman. He is also a very of phenominal
well-known critic. He was the New
York Herald-Tribune's music critic
from 1940 to 1954, when he re- FOCAL POINT OF SEASON:
signed to compse and to appear as
a us odco.Boso -Hsern music often quote him to helpS e
agescodutorBok onemd Rests on
characterize composers.

DON MUMMA
taff Reviewer
he uprisings of 1905
ur of Russia's lead-
Sergei Rachmani-
insky, Nikolai Met-
ei Prokofiev, emi-
country. In Europe
achmaninov became
usical conservatism,
c a me synonymous
adicalism, and Met-
nto an undue ob-
ourse has been the
After sixteen years
success abroad he

returned, in 1933, to the Soviet
Union
BORN IN 1891, he had, by his
mid-teens, gained fame both as a
pianist and a composer. His repu-
tation became international with
the appearance of his theatre
works "Age of Steel," "Chout,"
and "Sythian Suite."
It is most interesting that Pro-,
kofiev's return to the USSR was
made after the staggering pro-
nouncements, in 1932, of the offi-
cial Soviet limitations on musical
composition.
He returned voluntarily and
fully aware of the restrictions un-

INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Much Talk, No Action

Sound Philosophy

By TOM SHAWVER
Associated Press Staff Writer
ANSING - It was hard to say whether Gov.
Williams called a Republican bluff in the
ash crisis or Republicans called his.
Whichever it was, there was agreement all
ae way around that the impending state finan-
al crackup triggered yesterday would blacken
.ichigan's credit and reputation across the
nd.
Also, that the other party was to blame.
Political adversaries differed on just about
rerything else, sometimes violently.
Rep. Joseph J. Kowalski (D-Detroit), House
emocratic leader, said the Republican Sen-
e's abrupt switchto a combined use tax in-
ease and a cash emergency solution merely
vived the impasse that tied the Legislature in
hots during February and March. Through
>th months, Democrats in the House and
enate stood to a man against any increase in
le state sales tax. In practice, the use tax
ost would do just that.
The proposed sales tax increase was tied to
borrowing solution to the cash emergency.
was aimed at short-circuiting Williams' de-
and for a graduated personal income tax.
Williams has warned repeatedly that payless
iydays were imminent for state employes un-
ss the Legislature came up with some quick
sh.
Senate Republicans "are determined to have
yless paydays and now they have their wish,"
said yesterday after putting stop orders on
,ychecks to 325 employes.
"In effect, they have decided to let the state
Michigan go down the drain," he said, thus
oving to place the blame for any financial
saster squarely on GOP shoulders.
Editorial Staff
RICHARD TAUB, Editor
CHAEL KRAFTJOHN WEICHER
toril Director City Editor
DAVID TARR
Associate Editor
,LE CANTOR ........,.. ....... Personnel Director
AN WILLOUGHBY .... iAssociate Editorial Director
AN JONES. ...................Sports Editor
ATA JORGENSON .........Associate City Editor

SEN. LEWIS G. CHRISTMAN IR-Ann Arbor)
said it was "scandalous" to talk of payless
paydays with over 168 million dollars in the
State Treasury, money that Democrats said
was mostly earmarked and couldn't be touched
for payroll purposes.
Sen. Edward Hutchinson (R-Fennville)
chairman of the Senate Business Committee,
noted acidly that $6,200,000 of the 168 millions
was set aside for future payments on liquid
supplies.
"The people .will not agree that it is more
important to hoard funds for liquor than it
is to meet payrolls," he said. "Gov. Williams is
attempting to punish the Legislature for re-
fusing to march blindly at his command."
Sen. Carlton H. Morris (R-Kalamazoo) chief
architect of the new GOP trust-fund-use-tax
play, thought that Williams was bluffing.
"I believe the governor can, by various
means, do what is necessary to prevent payless
paydays," he said.
"And this way we are giving the people what
they want," he said. "The senators' mail for
months has indicated the people want a sales
tax in preference to an income tax."
Likewise, House Speaker Don R. Pears (R-
Buchanan) assailed the refusal of Democrats
to go along with Republicans in support of a
sales tax referendum in the April 6 election.
"As long as someone is not going to be paid,
it's only right that the legislators are the first
to go without paychecks," he said.
REP. GEORGE W. SALLADE (R-Ann Arbor)
didn't agree. He called the Senate caucus
action "reprehensible" and "a disgrace to the
Republican Party."
"I predict that if the bill comes to the House
floor it will be stripped of all tax provisions,"
he said.
Democrats like Sen. Philip Rahoi (D-Iron
Mountain) insisted that Republicans were
fighting the trust fund plan chiefly to embar-
rass Williams personally and cut down his
chances for winning the Democratic presiden-
tial nomination in 1960.
Democratic State Chairman Neil Staebler
sent telegrams to State GOP Chairman Law-
rence B. Lindemer and Paul D. Bagwell, the
party's governor candidate last fall, urging
them to rally Republican support for imme-

Born in Kansas City in 1896,
Thomson often uses idioms and
quotations from American folk-
songs-for example, in his highly-
praised music for the film "The
Plow That Broke the Plains." He
uses other material, too, including
original melodies, hymns and
waltzes. "The Seine at Night" has
"memories of Gregorian chant,"
as he says in the program notes he
wrote about his music for the May
Festival. He describes it as an
attempt to portray its subject, a
quietly lapping river, with a few
firework rockets flaring over Notre
Dame or from Montmartre and
later on a fine rain.
Thomson spent many years in
Paris. There he studied under
Nadia Boulanger, who increased
his awareness of the need for
discipline in music. He was also
influenced by several unconven-
tional, imaginative composers liv-
ing there in the twenties, includ-
ing Arthur Honegger, Darius Mil-
haud, Eric Satie and Francois
Poulenc.
* * *
THOMSON has used a variety
of styles. In one movement of his
'Concerto for Flute, Strings and
Percussion,' which will be per-
formed Saturday, he uses as ac-
companiment to the flute two in-
dependent sets of four-note chro-
matic chords, which are played
simultaneously and change simul-
taneously. No note is doubled, he
says in the program notes, so he
has nine notes all the time, count-
ing the flute.
This place is one of the more
than 100 musical portraits he has
done. Like- the others, it was
drawn from life, with the subject
sitting for him as for a painter.
Its subject is unknown. Tohe -pro-
gram notes say Irving Kolodin has
quoted, Thomson as saying it
sounds like a bird, sometimes
thoughtful, sometimes angry and
excited.
In another piece of his to be
played Saturday, "Fugues and
Cantilenas from the United Na-

By ANITA FELDMAN
Daily Staff Writer
THE ONE WORD which appro-
priately describes the Univer-
sity May Festival is 'unique.'
Featuring four days of exten-
sive musical performances, the
series is not 'thrown together' ran-
domly, but is based on a definite
threefold philosophy.
Discussing this approach, Gail
Rector, director of the University
Musical Society which presents
the Festival each year, explained
that its primary aim is to "nour-
ish the public musically' by pre-
senting a wide range of music of
Secondly, the concerts are
planned to provide members of
the University, the community,
and the state in general with the
opportunity to hear a high cul-
tural plane of music literature
performed by outstanding expo-
nents in their respective fields.
And finally, the Festival is in-
tended to supplement the musical

programs presented during the
numdrous winter concerts at the
different periods, types, and
places.
University, thus culminating the
entire season.
* * *
WITH this philosophy in mind,
the Musical Society plans its Fes-
tival programs not only for their
entertainment value, but also for
their sound educational contribu-
tion.
Rector described the four-day
Festival as the "focal point" of
the season's music. Its reputation
has been established over the past
66 years of annual presentations,
,and now "the concert-goers en-
joy the music as well as the pres-
tige that the significant festival
brings to the University," he said.
Not only does the Festival fea-
ture 'established' performers in
all fields of music, but newer per-
sonalities as well. This year, for
instance, the public will have the
opportunity to hear both Rudolf

Serkin, who has been internation-
ally renowned for many years, and
Giorgio Tozzi and Sidney Harth,
artists more recently arisen.
* * *
RECOGNIZING the significance
of individual composers as well as
their contributions to the field of
music, the 1959 May Festival will
open with an entire program de-
voted to the works of Johannes
Brahms, and on Saturday after-
noon, in the area of contemporary
works, Virgil Thomson will pre-
sent the world premiere of his
new suite, "Power Among Men."
On Friday evening, the contem-
porary composers Vaughan Wil-
liams and Prokofieff will also be
heard.
The repertoire of the Festival is
always diverse, offering choral,
orchestral, and virtuoso perform-
ances. The University and com-
munity are joined together and
enriched by these different facets
of music.

der which he would have to work.
In his own words Prokofiev de.
clared, "Foreign air does not suit
my inspiration because I am Rus-
sian, and that is to say, the least
suited of men to be an -exile, to
remain myself in a psychological
climate that isn't of my race."
It is possible that, musically,
Prokofiev sacrificed nothing by his
return. His evolution into lyricism
and his retreat to traditional and
simpler forms was apparent much
earlier than 1935.
He spent a great part of his
time at the production of hack
patriotic marches, work songs, the
"Greeting to Stalin," "Cantata for
the 20th Anniversary of the Octo-
ber Revolution," and"On.Guard
for Peace." But from the same
period care his "Alexander Nev-
sky," "Romeo and Juliet," the. two
excellent Violin and Piano Sona-
tas, and the impressive 5th and
6th Symphonies.
THE SECOND Violin Concerto,
opus 63, was completed in 1935,
the year Prokofiev became a Soviet
citizen. It is the first major work
of his Soviet period. Started In
Paris and finished in Baku, this
warmly lyrical work was given its
first performance' in *Madrid by
the violinist Robert Soeteus, for
whom it was written. It will be
performed at Friday night's May
Festival concert
Scheduled for Saturday night,
the Seventh Symphony, opus 131,
is one of Prokofiev's last composi-
tions. It ,was written immediately
after a serious rebuke by Zhdanov
and a panel of Soviet aestheti-
cians against Prokofiev's "rising
experimental tendencies." The
Seventh Symphony, though lack-
ing "rising experimental tenden-
cies" and the freshness and
vitality of his preceding two sym-
phonies, is representative of the
composer's finest lyrical and mu-
sicianly craftsmanship.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS:
Modern IdTraditional Themes

By CHARLES SHERMAN
ALTHOUGH Ralph Vaughan
Williams is perhaps England's
greatest composer since Henry
Purcell, his music has been almost
absent from past May Festival
programs. The "London Sym-
phony" was performed in 1924 and
the "Five Tudor Portraits" in 1957.
Particularly welcome, then, will be
Friday night's Festival perform-
ance of "Flos Campi," one of the
composer's finest though least-
known works.
Written in 1925, "Flos Campi"
is a suite of six movements for
solo viola, small orchestra and a
wordless choir of mixed voices.
Each movement of the suite bears
a sunpersrint from the Song nof

every medium: opera, ballet, inci-
dental music for the stage, film
scores, symphonies, concertos, or-
chestral music of every descrip-
tion, chamber music, music fqr
band, church anthems, hymn-
tunes, carols, solo songs, part-
songs. instrumental solos.
* * *
"TOWARD THE Unknown Re-
gion," a piece for chorus and or-
chestra presented at the 1907
Leeds Festival, was the first work
to gain him wide-spread recogni-
tion and clearly marked Vaughan
Williams as the coming composer
among Britain's younger genera-
tion. The "Choral Symphony" pre-
sented at Leeds three years later
served notice of his full arrival.

phony orchestra with the sonori-
ties of unusual instruments. The
score of his "Sinfonia Antartica"
includes organ, vibraphone, wind
machine, and wordless women's
voices. The fourth movement of
his Eighth Symphony is a toccata
for all the tuned percussion in-
struments of the modern orches-

tra. The Ninth Symphony, com-
pleted shortly before the com-
poser's death in 1958, has solos for
flugelhorn.
FROM THE beginning of his
career, Vaughan Williams was pri-
marily interested in composition.
As a young man he became in-
terested in two facets of his musi-
cal heritage -English. folk-song
and the works of the Tudor musi-
cians-both of which contributed
decisively to the modal and rhyth-
mic aspects of his language. In-
deed, Vaughan Williams' mature
style is more profoundly indebted
to these sources than to the in-
fluences of his teachers. Together
with his good friend and contem-
norarvG ustav TT.T he was able

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