THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Civic Orchestra Program Is More Auspicious
Than Original
c'oore cAbout cJYx siC1
By William Lichtenwanger
Elsewhere in this supplement men- blue-bloods among Germany's hogs
tion is made of the extremely cosmo- are 3,600,000 belonging to a race
politan character of American mu- which is aristocratically labeled as
sical activities, especially as regards 'German Noble White Hog."
Rachmaninof;f Johnson Discusses Comparison
LeadsOff Choral Of European, American Works
the personnel of our symphony or-
chestras. The Boston Symphony, for'
example, will bring here approximate-
ly 100 musicians, representing 19 dif-
ferent nationalities. Figures on the
Cleveland Orchestra are not avail-
able, but it is likely that its ratio is
about the same as that of the Boston.
As a matter of fact, the entire
Choral Union Series for the year pre-!
sents the same aspect of racial va-
riety. Leaving out the two orchestral
melting pots, we have eight artists
or organizations, representing eight
different countries: Russia, Austria,
Poland, Finland, France, Hungary,:
Roumania-and, strangely enough,
these United States. Quite a musical
travelogue in itself! Also, looking at
it politically, quite definitely a non-a
Fascist aggregation, although thank-
fully American music is not as yet af-
fected directly by international pol-
itics.
The same statement, however.
could hardly be made with regard to
the majority of the European coun-
tries at the present time. Germany,
for instance, offers the prime example
of heavy-handed governmental con-
trol of music and the other arts.
On this subject Columnist Ernest
L. Meyer last year waxed poetic in his
"As The Crow Flies" in the New York
Post. He first quoted two Associated
Press dispatches from Germany. One
told of the tearing down of,the statue
of Felix. Mendelssohn which longI
stood in Leipzig, because Nazi author-
ities felt that Mendelssohn's fame as
a composer could not overcome the'
fact that he was a Jew. The second
dispatch informed the world that
"there is an important racial distinc-
tion in Germany between pigs. The
Then sang Mr. Meyer:
"Mendelssohn made music in a
manner quite delectable.
But his grandpa had cursed him
with a Palestinian taint;
His "Spring Song," you may argue,
is really unperfectible,
But such a silly notion is very
4 Major Ensembles Plusi
Six Soloists Are To Bel
Featured Here
(Continued from Page I)
been presided over by conductors of'
world renown. For more than a
dozen years Dr. Koussevitzky has
been its leader.
11-Year-Old Genius
Immediately following the close of
the Christmas recess will come Ruth'
(Continued from Page 1)
queer and quaint. Slencyynski, 11-year-old genius of
"Oh, such views are antiquarian, the piano who has toured the cities
For you've got to be an Aryan of two continents since her New York
To qualify as genius under mod- debut three years ago.
ern Nazi law. A Finnish Chorus from the Uni-
You've got to be a German versity of Helsinki under the con-
By the name of Hans or Herman ductorship of Martti Turunen will
With a Nordic nose like Goebbels make ids appearance Jan. 18.
and a Nordic Goering jaw. In the Spring of 1935 the chorus
"A Leipzig pig made music in a made an extensive tour of Europe,
manner quite eclectical, giving concerts in Sweden, Germany,
For 'he grunted in an octave Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and
passed officially as pure; Italy. When the question of making'
His ancestry was Aryan for reason a concert tour in the United States
dietetical, early in 1938 was projected, foremost
He'd no Semitic ham in him, of men of Finland willingly volunteered
that you may be sure. to sponsor the tour.
Oh, this hog was Nordic, surely, Added Impetus Given
And he grunted proudly, purely, Additional impetus was given by
And his squeals were in soprano the invitation extended by the In-!
with a German accent true. tercollegiate Musical Council, whose
Nobler pig was never roasted, president. Marshall Bartholomew,
Fobrigwryaneorer oastedz conductor of the Yale University Glee
For this Aryan porker boasted z Club. has heard the Helsinki Univer-
A pedigree so Nordic that he grunt- city Chorus on his visits to Finland.
ed umlauts, too. Gina Cigna, French-Italian dra-
"Now the citizens of Leipzig, to matic soprano whose debut at the
conserve Kultur untainted, Metropolitan Opera last season was
Took Mendelssohn and dumped
him from his pedestal of stone; -
And while the muse of music gabe For Hitler knows the value of his
a groan of woe and fainted, umlauting swine.
They put the Nordic porker on the Mendelssohn the music-master
Mendelssohnian throne. Might bring Deutschland to dis-
"You may call such actions foolish, aster,I
For Hitler knows the So heroic Nordic porkers keep Die
But you're merely mean and mulish, Wacht am Rhein."
have now acquired it. When one
scans the roster of brilliant artists in
symphonic organizations in this
country which includes such person-
alities as Barrere, flutist (formerly
with the New York Philharmonic),
Tabiteau, oboist and Calliet, clarinet-'
ist. of the Philadelphia; and Laur-
ent (flutist), Bladet (flutist), Gillet
(oboist). Mimart (clarinetist), and
Allard, (bassoonist), all of the Boston
-it is apparent. that American con-
ductors realize the value of the
French musician in woodwind sec-
tions.
As to talent and ability in stringed'
pronounced "of historic importance"
will follow the Finnish chorus. Mme.
Cigna has been singing professionally
for only eight years but in that period
she has appeared in leading roles at:
the major opera houses of Paris, Lon-
don, Rome, Milan, Budapest, Flor-
ence, Berlin, Vienna, Nice, Verona,'
Venice, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Rio
de Janeiro.
Four Hungarian Virtuosi
The Roth String Quartet from Bu-.
dapest which appears Feb. 17, brings
to Ann Arbor four Hungarian vir-
tuosi of the first and second violin,'
the viola and the cello. Feri Roth,
founder and first violinist, was first
concertmaster of the Grosse Volks-
oper in Berlin. Jeno Antal, second
violinist, Ferenc Molnar, viola and
Janos Scholz, violoncellist were na-
tionally known chamber music per-
formers and soloists when the four
decided to combine their talents in
Paris where they made their initialj
instruments, the Jewish and Slavic
races have always excelled and sur-
passed all others. Formerly the Ger-
man-Jewish and Russian-Jewish
string sections in the Berlin Philhar-
monic and the Dresden Staatsoper
orchestras were incomparable. At
present those symphonies at Prague,
Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Zag-
rab and Palestine boast of unusual
string groups which are consider-
ably finer than the woodwind, brass,
and percussion sections in the same
orchestras. In our own symphonies
it is the exception rather than the
rule when there are non-Jewish or
non-Slavic musicians in the string
sections.
One general exception should be
made with references to Italian mu-
sicians, as in many American sym-
phonies, a number of the prominent
positions (especially in the harp sec-
tions) are held by Italian artists;
however their prominence in orches-
tral circles can in no way be com-
pared to that which they hold in the
operatic realm both in this country
and abroad.
With these sources cont'ibuting
vitally to the personnel, American or-
chestras. generally speaking, are cos-
mopolitan units, and through that
condition, are freed from nationalis-
tic handicaps under which many Eu-
ropean orchestras are labouring to-
day. If German orchestras pray De-
bussy and Ravel poorly, it is excused
on the basis that this is French music
and therefore foreign to the Ger-
manic temperament. Of if Italian
orchestras play Beethoven in an Ital-
'I
appearance in 1926. - ian manner, it is again excused in
Concluding the Choral Union series the same manner of reasoning. How-
March 1 will be Georges Enesco, one ever, the American orchestras, be-
of the few world famed violinists who cause of their cosmopolitan personal-
has never before appeared in Ann Ar- ities, are able to perform all types
bor. As guest conductor and soloist of musical compositions with eqgtal
Mr. Enesco toured the country last efficiency, and thereby gain a march
season, playing with most of the fa- on the nationalistic orchestras
mous symphony orchestras. I abroad.
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m
1937
HORAL
1938
INION
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ONCERTS
Rachmaninoff
The 59th Annual Choral Union Season promises to be one of
the finest in the history of these annual concerts. Such
a superb
collection of artists in one season
missed.
Rachmaninoff, Pianist
is an opportunity not to be
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27
0
The Cleveland Orchestra
ARTUR RODZINSKI, Conductor 4
Richard Crooks, Tenor
Fritz Kreisler, Violinist
Boston Symphony Orchestra
SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor
Ruth Slenczynski, Pianist
Helsinki University Chorus
MARTTI TURUNEN, Conductor
Gina Cigna, Soprano
The Roth Quartet
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8
MONDAY JANUARY 10
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17
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