SUNA,
MARCH 22, 1925
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
!'AG!, THIRTEEN
Pusic and Drama
V
The Need
By Edward Gordon Craig
(Editor's Note: The following article
is reprinted from the January, 1925
number of The Mask, Mr. Oraig's 11-
lustrated quarterly published in Flor-
ence, Italy. While the author is fam-
ous as one of the leading artists of
the theatre, this is his first contribu-
tion to the theory of music.)
* * *
I would suggest that the need for
music is positive, and that if some-
thing can be done to bring it to us
rather more often something should
be done.
I am today well fitted to say a word
for the first time about the need for
music, for, though I am only an ar-
tist, and ignorant of the history of mu-
sic, and quite unaware who is really
who in the modern stream, I am one
who once made a daily use of music; I
the afternoon until long past midnight.
And when I can no longer hear it I
fear to grow thin at heart; and if
it does not come to me I cannot hear
it; .. . . . and so I starve, for seldom
does it come.
t'
,.
But I have been hearing it for the
last six days. I hear it from four in
breaks threateningly outside my win-
And then I hear it once more in the
morning from ten to eleven.
Will you know where I am and what
it is I hear?
I am in a big town in the north of
Italy, having come here to see and
study an old and celebrated theatre.
I lodge in the top-but-one-floor of
a hotel which looks on to a very un-
tidy courtyard; and the courtyard is
full of hangings and cries and thuds
and knockings. The far-off hum of
wheels and motor horns is soothing
to myear, which finds the slamming
of shutters, the beating of carpets,
the howls of servants, ringing of big
electric bells, and crackling of cut-
lery and china, something to meet with
fortitude.
So much for the noise.
But, as I said, this noise gives way
to music at four o'clock. No noise
could stand up against such music. I
rather like it; it has the common
touch which Mr. Kipling tells us we
should try never to lose. I do not
believe I shall lose it; but, spite of
Mr. Kipling, to say truly I sometimes
wish I could. And my wish is in a
measure granted, for I lose it in the
morning as I will tell you later.
This music, from four o'clock to
past midnight, which sweeps the
courtyard of all its hideous noises,
breaks treateningly outside my win-
dow in a great splash, and I feel in
danger. I mean it quite seriously but
without offence; I am threatened by
the breakers of modern Jazz music.
To this Jazz, millions of people dance
each afternoon and every night when
bored by the dull old fashioned tinkle
at the Cinema. (It is, I hear, now ac-
knowledged that folk only go to a
cinema for the sake of the music.)
The first time it attacked me I stood
and listened to it with attention for
a full ten minutes. Perhaps this(
show of respect for it appeased andl
propitiated its far-off god and won forl
me the favour of its own African par-'
ticular; for when I sat down to listen
to it without impatience for the next
thirty minutes I found it bearable.
I concluded that I could stay with-
out doubt where I was; need not move
to another hotel as for a moment I
had felt I should have to do; and that
I could do my work, which, whatever
it be, I always enjoy doing, and in
more or less any reasonable sur-
roundings.
So I tried to work. I got on quite
well, though I admit I was feeling
quite ill.
For eight days I felt quite ill every
time I heard that music, but now I
have grown to rather like it. At first
- --- - --- Iold tunes again-as I hear one of
mine now on the floor above me.
The positive need for music has
For MusicInot, I think, just yet been made clear The New G
to those people who have the con-
trol of most things in the world, aud
who, by a little thought, could' bring - - -
I believed that I was out of touch music again into our daily elistence. By James Sprowl C
with it, because I was not down there There is Mr. Otto Kahn; there was Early in the fifties, when students h
and in it; and dancing hellishly in Sir Ernest Speyer; they both gave in the University had little besides h
the flames with some deadly serious large sums of money I am told to se- scholastic work to worry them, some
mod.ern lady who is not such a fool cure music a hearing in London and of the gayer spirits began to gather g
as to ask why she does anything but I New York. There was the Corntesse at Joe Parker's and the Orient cafe, to th
just does it. Greffuble in Paris; there is Contessa' sing Michigan songs. With these in- C
Well, I don't always like to be out- Piccolomint in Roma. These lovers of formal meetings, which became regu- t
W ,don'y te greatsoeverytenoon music have done a little-all they lar before long, began the Michigan m,
could do-and yet music does not Glee club-the oldest society on the i
from four to eight and from ten to reach me or you or our neighbors. eampus. For some time it continued
teamn noise, (which I am begin- There Is Lord Berne; there is quite a.part from the University itself, T
steaing to likethis hic stage chat- Vaughan Williams anq Gooseens, and but by 1849 it had gathered such im- d
teand ask)o thsi ngst. g ha-there is Martin Shaw in London? petuS that it was officially recognized. G
ter, and ask no questions. Shaw is assuredly trying to get musikc Little else is known of those first ti
But it's morning now, and up above jto those who need It; ad possibly years, except that the boys still s
me a player, I think a careful lady- others are doin'g something. But as gathered in those old eating places so i
player, has just ended an hour's prac- well attemp-t to send coals from New- dim in tradition now, Joe's and the
tice. She has the uncommon touch. castle in a handbag as leave the dis- i Orient, to sing until far in the morn- u
Of all tunes to hear coming down to tribution of music to the unaided ef- ing. 1
me from on high, one of Chopin's. forts of the men who are making it. At that time there was no supervi- w
slighter and loveliest things was the sion, no direction; for twenty years t
most unexpected . . . . and the sun It s a life's work to create any ,the club existed, a social group, loose t
seemed to break through the ceiling. little tune anyhow; and thea to spread ly bound. And of this existance there t
I have heard this piece of musi; it far and wide, that takes a whole of no jecord. But in 1880 this organi- b
some hundred times; but not since life and Kahn, Speyer Morgan and zation assumed its place on the cam- y
1907 have I chanced to hear it. Ford cannot give up tbefr bankingpus as a recognized activity; that wasn
and motor business to devote their the year that Dr. Albert A. Stanley M
That is a long timne to be without full time. and strength to the spread- eaedrcoapsto hc e
something on which one feeds, and I ul imindsregh.oth pra-became director, a position which hE
smetion cs e it sers at ing of music far and w'ide. iled, with great vigor, for severa'
mention it because it is a serious mat. If they could, it is just such ener-F years. His personality lent life to the c
ter, this starving of the' heart. gies who could do this task; . . . . n club; it was for them that he wroteM
I cannot engage a private orchestra, lesser effort by lesser men can do it. his Michigan songs.
and I cannot go out to hear music. It's folly to fail about music, and Then there is another lapse in thE
Very often failure has been achieved if we are history; everything is vague unti!1
hear. I have to work, and regularly. only to get it by going to a theater 1908, when Earle Kileen became di-I
I daresay I could work less regularly. for it-or to a concert. rector. From this time on the de
So as I cannot hear music in my Music means health; it means velopment of the club is marked an(
home by the sea, near Geneva, or go, light; it means all which a world to- rapid. Those intermittent concerts
out to hear it, perhaps I aught to day unable to afford the most things which the club began to give outside
stay in this top-but-one floor room cries out for today and is refused. I Ann Arbor swelled into whole trip'
for the rest of my life since I have ! I am no prophet, but, had I a proph- crowded into the Christmas holidays
again found music......and ask no esying gift,. I think I would risk a safe These trips became more and more ex
questions asto its quality. I ought word about music.,j tended during the years, growing con
to embrace the full ignorance of the I would say that if you can bring I siderably under the leadership o
shattering strains and move to its music into the streets, into courtyards, William -Howland.
blood and thunder rhythm which is into museums, into; railway stations, I.ut all this development lies in
not without decision; allow my new into every place where crowds go and significant when compared to th
work to be colored by it blood and pass from, you can again and again gigantic steps taken during the sb
strengthened by its thundering, its ;rout scepticism, drunkenness and ill years from 1913 to 1919; those were
clanging and tumbling form; for health. You can get' a long way the years when Theodore Harrisor
there seems a chance that in the toward solving half your troublesome acted as the club's dynamic director
morning the dear lady upstairs may modern problems. For in this time five trips were mad(
be practicing her bit over and over But you must do it cunningly, with to the Pacific coast; it marked th
again. These seventeen years I have with great art. peak of development. Then, in 1916
been more or less without all music, II will give you two examples, one geat disaster occurred; a railway
and that is, I submit, to be without a bad, one good.- trie crystallized overnight, holdini
v-ry needful thing. Musicwas introduced into a mu- the club, impatient and helpless, ir
If when I am at home a man wit seum one otwo''yearsago: I think i Angeles for several precious
a dancing bear chances to come down it was in London at'one of the South days'eThecluld nlyaneb7
the road I go to the window and watch. Kensington 1MIuseuus. - tosee their funds dwindle as concert
and listen; or if an organ passes and., z nt h after concert was iseed. It was- a
an s i a passes a How was it introduced into this heavy blow; the club came home with
playing as it passes, passes away, I place- of wandering passages and a colossal deficit, a deficit which has
go on with my work thoroughly dii- courtyards gemmed with delicious not yet been altogether wiped away.
turbed, but thoroughly .....and well things to look at and to study, before Once Mr. Harrison was called away
disturbed as I follow it to the last far- which hutndreds pass along daily, the club became inactive, rather dis
off note. All that was difficult be- looking at them, and hundreds of couraged with its heavy debt. The
comes as laughing then, all that was others sit studying them? trips were cautiously resumed in 1921
problematical is solved. Wasn't that This is what happened. A closed under Mr. Frank Thomas, and were
music; and isn't that where music is room was put aside for the, music. ettended in the next few years unde7
so magical. And musn't music come Caspita! a closed room for this fairy, Mr. George Bowen. But even thougl
and go like that, .....sometimes ling- for this thing born with wings which the club covered some 3000 miles last
ering a while longer, causing us to are even now not crusher. Anyone year, no further trips to the coas'
throw down the spade or the pen, to in the museum who happened to find have been attempted.
stop measuring, and to stand still and out that music coufd 'lie beard there At.last, through many business ven
lee Club
The Theatre Ascendant
i -- -
lee club contest held at Orchestra Edward Gordon Craig, by Paul Step'li-
all in Chicago, and for two years it ensn .
as lost first place by the narrow mar- (Editor's Note: This is the last in
in of four points. At the concert a series of six articles on contempo-
us TusainHlauioimterary personalities sin the world thea-
is u ay i Hil audtorim t tre. )
ampus will have a chance to see for
hemselves just what this really It was a letter from Mary Young-
neans; we have the second Glee club
n the country. Hunter which brought me an nt Villa
Theodore Harrison, the man who ha. Raggio, near Rapallo. From Florence
one so much in the past to make the I shared a compartment with a jolly
ee clu h oneof the finst t k t English Padre, who was going to visit i
lee club one of the finest organza- at the villa of "Enchanted April"
on s more thanmuereo Mr.Harr - fame. There are many famous people
s a thoroughly finished musician, and interesting places near Raparo.
For after studying several years In a recent number of Vanity Fair
under Frederic Peakes in Philadel- appeared a picture of Gordon Craig
hia, Mr. Harrison went abroad to standing by Notre Dame. That is ex-
work in Paris under Fidele Koenig of actly as he looked when I mounted
,he Royal Opera. He went to England, a circular stone stairway to tho ter-
hen to Italy, where he spent much race where he was having coffee with
ime with such men as Vincenze LomI- Max Beerbohm. The broad hat was
bardi and Carlo Carrobi; after three grey and there was profusion of grey
-ears in Italian opera he began to sing hair above a loose grey coat. I had
n all parts of the continent, in Ger- j looked forward to this meeting as go-
iany, in Austria, in Holland, and in ing to a prophet, and he was like that.
keep the picture of her far longer
than that of her husband, but I shall
never forget his long talk to me, when
I heard so much more than I remem-
her.
IHe took me to a little, second-story
room. It was his study. The windows
were pressed by branches, with bits
of sea between, blue and distant.
There were books innumerable. I
have certainly never been in the pres-
ence of such interesting and distin-
guished volumes and prints, many of
great antiquity. The whole room has
a touch and savor unlike anything I
have known. We sat here and talked.
Word had just come of Duse's death.
"Poor Duse," he said, and then he was
very still before he told me how truly
the Italians loved her. We talked of
'the theatre in Vienna and Berlin, and
much about the non-professional the-
atres in America. I told him of my
own plans for an intimate theatre and
he was. interested, and produced
plates, and offered suggestions which
I prize. I happened to mention my
admiration for the Little Comedy
Theatre at Pompei, and from then we
were clubby. Then for a long time
I sat delighted with a portfolio of his
woodcuts. I wonder if he will ever re-
produce them on a stage. If he does,
I I shall go a great journey to see themr.
I had hoped to see the model in but-
ter-colored boards that Mrs. Young-
Hunter had told meor. But there is
(Continued on Page Fourteen)
England. His tour was remarkable-.
In 1913 he returned to America, to
come after a time to the School of
Music at Ann Arbor, where he was
-ble to do so much for the Glee club.
Ind now that he has returned, the
xlee club has entered again on one of
hose periods of success. There is a
nost interesting rumor about, a rumor
'hich claims that plans are already
)eing made for a sixth trip to the
roast next ydar,-and that engage-1
Nearby, in a huge chair, sat a beau-
tiful little lady, completely folded in
a long black coat. She was wonderful
against the very blue Mediterranean.
She was Mrs. Craig. In their own'
rooms, which were hung in grey, she
was exquisite decoration. I shall
i
ments are being made
ahead. Perhaps it is
even this far
more than a
., xIf.
_...
For
Sunday
Ebening-- -
We suggest that you come down to 'the Lincoln Hotel Res-
taurant for a real treat. You'll appreciate the excellent home
cooked food. And the service -is prompt and courteous-
such that it will induce you to come again.
Tiventy-~two roomsj in conne'ction
The Lincoln Hotel and Restaurant
E. HURON
silent in our room or our field?
Is that not music?
If it be, when may we expect to be
favored with a little?
Is Music perhaps a national thing?
if so, then of course each nation
will see that it is put in its{right place
.that it waits its turn. First
the tram service, next the matter of
drainage, and then bothersome music.
But if music is not a national thing,
if it is so good, so easy, so harmless!
that individuals can deal with it, let
them. I mean bring it alive again,
and bring it in the right way and the.
easiest way to everyone who needs it.
How? There must be ten thou-
sand ways besides the "Merrie Eng-
land" way. I suggest. that the ordi-
nary way might be discovered.
The organs and the bears and the
traffic meantime remain to cheer us,
three or four times a year; until,
with heart once more whole again,
musicians come pouring back to our
cities, and we hear many dozens of
could go away from the'silver caskets,
leave the golden'frameesand the tapes-
tries and hear a concert!
Incredible, to me: is such an inno-
cence of the true nature of music.
Is anything more unpractical, when
a world is sick for lack of a little
first-aid, than the. notice " First aid
can be obtained by applying for a
ticket (Price one shilling) and by go-
ing in search of the aid."
First aid has to be brought to the
sick -for the sick cannot even crawl
to where it, sits, if, it squats in state
for the sake of an exaggerated good
form.
My second example illustrates this.-
Outside and below my house by the
sea winds a long- uphill road. One
day last year three men came alongI
this road. -.They were Russians or1
Poles or some kind of foreigners, and'
they carried an instrument apiece.
They seemed to be artists-painters
may be-and, walking from town to
(Continued on Page Sixteen) f
tures, all but a few hundred dollars
of that debt have been paid off; con
ceits have proven successful in a
financial sense, and considerable pro
fit has been realized through the per
formances of the Denishawn dancers
whom the club hiss brought to Ann
Ardor for O~e 'last two 'years, as well
as through the Marmeins, presented
last fall. The gloom of that old deb!
is. being lifted; the club is once agair
climbing on to a sound financial
footing.
Now Mr. Harrison has returned tc
Michigan, and he has reassumed hip
duties as Glee club director; and this
directorship was made an official post
by the Board of Regents. At the same
time the Glee club was made a Uni-
versity organization, under the Union.
Two years of distinct success have
done much to bring the club up to itF
old standard in the matter of energy;
and in pure musical ability they have
made it better than it ever was be-
fore. For the last two years the Glee
club has entered the Intercollegiate
I4 -
0
;:
, .
a.a
{
t
a
- Bi
-l
.- cross from D. U.PR DepotI
-I
1 -
- You will find a place that
r serves real steak dinners. Drop -
in and try one tonight.
r1 -
wl
I. p
Tailored
to the
Collegiate
taste--
Fashioned of excellent fabrics
in the true collegiate styles.
You'll appreciate a suit tail-
ored so that it really fits.
I %/
Where Shall 1 Send
'M y Lau ndry
No doubt there have been times when this question has
actually stumped you. You take pride in your outward
appearance, and the way in which your laundry is done up
is a large factor in maintaining it. Sometimes you have
wanted exceptionally quick service. At any rate you have
been stumped. The Trojan Laundry will satisfy you in
every way, so the answer to your question is
Send It To The Trojan
THE TROJAN L AUNDRY
514 East William Street
. :mss na " syrr irr
r
I
1 t*
i 11 11