Feature Section Y Ar Aw Ititr 4 t n :43aiIt~. Feature Section VOL. XXXV. No. 16:) ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MAY 17, 1925 EIGHT PAGES SPRING BRINGS TtE MAY or "gram .. +?- 4,fl Annual Affair Will Be Presented This Week In Hill Auditorium Weekt- Return To More Classical And Conventi V Many Stars Will Take Part In Ann Arbor's Music onal Music Characterizes Program Planned By University School Of Music Will Present "La Gioconda" On Saturday U ,: y. Nx 'D U SOME OF THE sets which will be used in the presentation of "La Gioconda" on the closing night of the May Festival to be held this week. Top, Center,' Lawrence Tibbett, a "discovery" of this season, also on the May Festival program. Lower left, "The Mayor of Turegans, Segoria," one of the paintings now on exhibition in Alumni Memorial Hall under the auspices of the Ann Arbor Art Association. The painting is the work of Valentine de Zubiaurre, a Spanish artist, IIARACTE1RIZED by a reversal to the mor' classical, conventional literature in con- trast to the predominance of modern music on last year's programs, the thirty-second annual May Festival will be held under the aus- piccs of the University School of Music in Hill audi- torium from Wednesday, May 20, through Saturday May 23. The course will include the usual six con- certs in four days, and will present thirteen interna- tionally famous artists, the Chicago Symphony or- chestra under Frederick Stock, the University Choral Union, the Children's Festival Chorus, three symphonies, Rachmaninoff's "The Bells", Pon- chielli's "La Gioconda, and numerous other orches- tral and solo works. The first concert Wednesday evening will include the Schumann B flat Symphony. The Official Pro- gram Book of the May Festival, from which The Mlichigan Daily hyas received special permission to quote excerpts, presents the folowing history of this work: "The years immediately preceding the writing of the symphony were full of joy, stress and storm; the love of Schumann and Clara Wieck is one of the most beautiful examples of perfect understanding and accord, but they were made to experience the extremes of happiness and despair by the deter- mined and persistent opposition to their marriage by her father, Herr Wieck, a pianoforte teacher of Leipzig who entertained highest hopes of a success- ful public career as a pianist for his daughter. "Schumann composed this B fiat symphony at a period when its form and character were greatly affected by his own mood and external conditions. I !c wrote Spohr that this work was conceived "in the veinal longing which influences men until they grow aged, an emotion that surprised them every year." The symphony was sketched in four days, January 23-26, 1841, and completed in all its details so f hat he played it on the piano at his house in Leipzi. on February 14 for his wife and some inti- imi ' friends. A touch of sentiment is given by the statment of the master himself that the work was written with a steel pen which he had picked up as it lay on ScLiubert's grave at Vienna. "The first orchestral performance took place under the direction of Mendelssohn at Leipzig in the Cewau lhaus, March 31, 1841. Schumann wrote of thui event, '1low happy I was at the performance! I. and others also, for it had such a favorable re- ceptioni as I think no symphony has had since Bee- thoven.' " Finck's unadorned phrase, leaving the 'ultra-mod- erns' of other days in comparative peace. When we consider that 'Don Juan' was created thirty- seven years ago, when the composer was twenty- four years old, an age when his feelings and sym- pathies were no doubt at one with those of the young hero he so graphically depicts, and when, as the vital, energetic, emotional music carries us onward we realize that there is compexity in utterance, and for that day a startling disregard for the propor- tions of consonance and dissonance, we must admit, perforce, that the Philistines of the late 19th cen- tury could gather from the 'Aus Italien', 'Macbeth' and 'Don Juan' an abundance of ammunition for their critical guns. "Ernest Newman, the eminent English writer and recently a guest critic on one of the New York papers points out that in 'Don Juan' we get some of the finest devplopment that is to be found in the history of symphonic music. 'The music unfolds itself, bar by bar, with, as perfect continuity and consistency as if it had nothing but itself to con- sider, while at the same time it adds fresh points to our knowledge of the psychology of the char- acter it is portraying. No other composer equals Strauss in the power of writing long stretches of music that interests us in and for itself, at the same time that every line and color in it seems to ex- press some new trait in the character that is being sketched.'" Of the Tchaikowsky Concerto for Pianoforte and Orchestra, B flat minor, with Ossip Gabrilowitsch as soloist, the program notes comment as follows: "Though Tchaikowsky displays little inspiration or ingenuity in what he wrote for the piano solo, his handling of the capacities of the instrument rises to a much higher level when he treats it in conibination with other instruments. Of the three concertos, the popular verdict has been unqualifiedly 'in the composition of a pianoforte concerto. I am very anxious that Rubenstein' (He refers to Nicholas, not Anton,) 'should play it at his concert. The work progresses very slowly, and does not turn out well. However, I stick to my intentions, and ham- mer pianoforte passages out of my brain; the result is nervous irritability.' On Christmas Eve the com- poser played the work for Rubenstein at the Con- servatory; after listening in silence until the end, Nicholas gave vent to his feelings in a torrent of abuse. To him tho concerto was '-ulgar, trivial, al- together bad, awkward to play, ineffective and ut- terly worthless.' Rubenstein offered to perform the work if certain changes were made, but Tchaikowsky was deeply wounded and adamant. 'I shall not change a single note,' he answered, 'and the con- certo shall be published as it now is.' And it was." * * * The c i f work on the second conc-i-rt3 T rsday evening will he RachmianinofIls musia setting for' Edgar Allen Poe's poem, "The I V11W' with Emily Stokes IHagar, Rhys Morgan and Charles Tittnman as= soloists, assisted ly tlie C'hicago Symphony orches- tra and the University Choral Union. The libretto points out the unijue oii alities of this cantata as follows: "Tle association of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry anwl Serge RacMhnmaninoff's m u-ic is bo11th natural and fortuitous. We may reflect u11on0 their common feel- ing for the fantastic and thce unseeen threatening 1 orror; they seem to delight in the sarme nemotional reaction to the klang of words and the rhythm of the poetic line or the musical phvrase. '"Saitayana insiits that ihle gre' a t art impliea obedience to discipline, in which case IRachLaninoff disciplines himself by avoiding the obvious in setting this lyric and musical text; he has s(ldomu eumpolyeci actual hells in the work. Rather has h- displayed a fine sense of repression and expression by seeking se; the tone pictures are not to be subjected to minute analysis; too close inspection will reveal, crude effects which are softened and melted into the ensemble, when a perspective is taken. Each move- ment is developed in superb sweeps and broad curves of sound; there is a breadth to the contour of the conception that compels attention to the mass; there is a directness of expression that is elemental even though the tonal structure is extremely com- plex in detail. Each picture has a wealth of rich- ness of detail that, in the hands of a lesser genius, would obscure or obliterate the design of which it should be an inconspicuous but none the less es- sential part." "The Bells" will be followed by portions from the Bach B minor Mass. The libretto comments thus: "Perhaps purely from devotional impulses, Bach completed the entire mass in the Latin; the fact that its composition was spread over a number of years seems to confirm this surnlise. The B minor Mass has been dscribed as a 'compilation of huge inde- pendent entities, juxtaposed rather than consecu- tive, and fused into a unity more by consistency of the personality of J. S. Bach and his religious feel- ings, than by the principles of scheme in an organic sense.' "The B minor Mass con'tains twenty-four numbers, which if given in their entirety result in a single performance of exceptional length. Considering the limitations of expressions in the polyphonic 18th century we marvel at the emotional effects Bach ob- tains, especially in the choruses: the rich and elabo- rately ornamented Kyrie; the severe, sober dignity of the Gratias, the tender supplication of the Qui tollis; the anguish of the Crucifixus and the over- whelming joy of the Resurrexit; and finally the sub- lime grandeur of the Sanctus." * * * Of the Brahms Symphony, No. 3, F mnajor, Opus That he is one of the great symphonists is now con- ceded, and the Symphony, No. 3, in F major will sub- stantiate the claim of his followers and expose the reasons for the concession." Lawrence Tibbett, the sensational "discovery" of the season, will sing three numbers. The first will be the Aria, "Eri Tu" from Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," while the second will be "Vision Fugi- tive" from Massenet's "IHerodaide." "No modern composer," the program notes say, "has displayed greater productive activity than Mas- senet. It is possibly due to this that it cannot be said that all of his operas maintain the high level at- tained by him when at his best. His style is sensu- ous, pictorial, at times really dramatic, but occa- sionally lapsing into mannerisms that give but sur- face indications of the possession of the last named quality. He was a master of orchestration, and few understood better than he the management of voices, both in solo and ensemble. "It is difficult to make a proper evaluation of a composer's work while he is still near us, unless he be so distinctly great as to preclude any question of doubt. Although the few years which have elapsed since his death would seem to be a short time in which to form a final judgment, one would not be far afield in stating that Fassenet displayed great talenlt and extraordinary cleverness rather than any ap- proach to genius or exalted inspiration." Mr. Tgbett's final number will be Ford's "Mono- logue" from Falstaff", the aria which elicited a fif- teen minute ovation for the singer this winter at the Metropolitan. "In Verdi's 'Falstaff.'" the librctto says, "we find almost an antithesis of the methods of operatic writ- ing and style of melodic expression that characterize the other works by the Italian master. Though per- haps not as conspicuously as Wagner, Verdi, never- theless, passed through periods of evolution, and the