THE MICHIGAN DAILY UNDAY Ay Festivals re Renowned For Excellence Id's Foremost 2 ve Appeared irted 49 Years Artists Here Ago 'Forty-nine Mays ago the Choral Union Concert Series was climaxed by the inauguration of the Annual May Festival and from that time to this "Ars Longa Vita Brevis"- legend of the University Musical Soci- ety which sponsors these concerts-- has been exemplified in the cultural and artistic purposes of these spring performances. Since 1394, the year of its first significance, the May Festival has involved the services of practically all of the world's most distinguished artists, leading orchestras, quartets and choral organizations. Also, most of the field of musical literature-- opera, symphony. and concert com- positions-have been presented to the University and the public. The roster of these luminaries includes Madame, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, famed German soprano who returned here several times: Percy Grainger, who came to Ann. Arbor when he- was still a young Astralian pianist that was astounding American audiences by his brilliant keyboard ability; and Baniamino Gigli, noted Italian tenor. The May Festival itself came about as the result of an accident. Back in the early and gayer Nineties-the fall of 1893 to be exact-the Boston Symphony Orchestra which for 15 years had escaped the annual music series by a last rousing performance suddenly found itself forced to can- cel this concert. However, it had a small travelling orchestra, the Bos- ton Festival Orchestra. which the Board of Directors of the Society seized upon as a substitute. Because the Board was forced to pay the rail- road charges to transport this group to Ann Arbor they decided to give three concerts instead of one, thus creating the May Festival. I Ace Meiemory 'Aids Ormandy In Conducting, Caston Leads Orchestra As Ast ociate Director; Both To Appear Here /in all tlhe history of music only Toscanini js credited with having a more remArkable musical memory than Eugene Ormandy, conductor of the Philade'phia Orchestra. Never con2ducting from score, Or- mandy requires only one or two days to learn the average symphony by heart. His rnost amazing achieve- , ent in this line was the memor-, i ing of Verdi's "Requiem," which ekes an hour and a half to per- form, in two and a half days. But he shrugs his shoulders when he is complimented on his fine mem- ory, claiming th':t conducting with- rut a score means nothing in itself. It is the eye cont act with his orches- tra which really counts, he says. He explains tha2't in this way he is able to convey his own suggestions and emotions to the individual men in his orchestra. Ormandy has one superstition. It is his baton. The baton which has woven so many fabrics of orchestral splendor is, surprisinglT enough, a very worn shaft of light wood, re- taining the traces of many years of service. The reason he clings to this baton with such sentimental attach- ment is that he used it when at the last moment he was substituted for the director of the orchestra in the Capitol Theatre in New York to lead Tschaikowsky's Fourth Symphony. The career of Saul Caston, Orman- dy's associate conductor, began in an equally spectacular manner. First trumpeter in the Philadelphia Or- chestra. Caston learned five minutes before one of the Orchestra', sum- rier concerts that Albert Coates, Eng- lish guest conductor, had been staick- en ill and that he, Caston, was to conduct-. I- was after the Orchestra'; first transcontinental tour, on which he, conducted a number of concerts, that Ormandy and Leopold Stokowsky ap- pointed him to the post of asso-iate conductor. Caston's wife is Selma Amansky. a dramatic soprano and a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She bas sung with the Orchestra on sev- eral occasions. The premier American perform-, ance of the entire Daphnis and Chloe 'ballet w-as given by the Philadel&iila Ballet under Caston's direction at the Academy of Music in 1936. Negro Contralto To Sing Here An internafionally known cellist, another. He made his American de- Emanuel, Feuermann has been ap- but with the New York Philhar- pearing as a solo artist with many of the world's greatest orchestras since monic-Symphony Orchestra under he was eleven years old, at that age Bruno Walter, and since that time making his debut with the great has appeared under the baton of Vienna Symphony Orchestra under many another great conductor. the baton of Felix W eingartner. Fany an nhe owr a n dAm tr . It is thus appa!'ent that Feuer- Feuermann, nlow an American citi- man's ability was recognized early. zen, is one of those artists who feels1 But though there have been many that' he has obligations other than child prodigies among musicians, few can boast of being named professor of music at the age of 16, as can this cellist. Feuermann remained a teacher un- til political conditions in Germany made him an exile, though at the same time steadily adding to his rep- utation as a solo artist on the cello. Since his arrival here in 1934. F'euermannhas appeared as guest artist with one great orchestra after Feuermann, Famous Cello Virtuoso, Was Famed As Juvenile Prodigy merely appearing before concert aud- iences. He believes that all musicians who are capable of teaching should devote at least part of their time to | passing on what they know to gifted young students. "No matter how great an artist is, no matter haw much pleasure he gives to his audiences, the art which he practices on the concert platform is j st a passing thing," Feuermann. statid. "But if he takes the trouble to pass it on to young students, his art in some measure survives him more than just in the memory of those who heard him play." Feuermann believes in practicing. what he preaches. He has just aca cepted an appointment as head of the cello department of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The cello is singularly blessed, ac- cording to Feuermann, in having few poor or incompetent performers. "One is either a good cellist or not a cellist at all." This he holds to be true because- only the really good cellists manage to survive. All others fall out by -the wayside, making non-existent a me- dium grade of cellists in the same sense as we have a medium grade. of violinists or pianists. 4 THURSDAY EVENING MAY 7th Marian Anderson will open the 49th annual May Festival with a program of airs and arias on Wednesday evening. This will be Miss Anderson's fifth Ann Arbor appearance. The famous Negro singer was born in Philadelphia. She first sang in a neighborhood Baptist Church choir. Her first serious voice training came in high school. Other earlier studies were made possible through community interest wheveby church concerts and similar benefits helped to pay her expenses. 4 Beethoven's Ninth Is Great Choral, Symphonic Work The ninth symphony in D minor, Op. 125, of Ludwig van Beethoven, which will be performed by the Phila- delphia Orchestra under Eugene Or- mandy and by the Choral Union, is * considered by many to be the most monumental symphonic work ever written. Ann Arbor audiences are fortu- nate in hearing this piece of music, as it embraces the services of so many artists that it is seldom played. The symphony which is the first one ever written for chorus and orches- tra, is made up of four movements, the last of which is composed to the words of Schiller's 'Ode to Joy." It is in this last movement that the chorus, led by a mixed quartet, con- sisting of Judith Hellwig, soprano, Enid Szantho, contralto, Jan Peerce, tenor and Mack Harrell, baritone, joins in. The four movements are marked, Allegro ma non troppo, un ppco mae- stoso; Molto visace. Presto; Adagio molto e cantabile, Andante moder- ato; Allegro assai. Famous Contralto Will Return, For Fifth Ann Arbor Concert Marian Anderson, world famous meet the acclaim of her native lahii. Negro singer whose popularity with In' 1938 Miss Anderson gave 70 re- Ann Arbor audiences, occasioned by citals in the United States, the longest her beautiful contralto voice, has brought her here repeatedly to sing, most intensive tour in concert his- will again return to appear in her tory for any singer. Miss Anderson fifth May Festival. has continued this strenuous pace for Famed for her rendition of Bach, six years, pausing to rest last sum- Brahms, Schubert, and Negro spirit- mer for the first time and now in her uals, Miss Anderson will bring many new songs to her festival audiences. ,eventh annual tour, in six months Since appearing here last the famous she will have given 80 odd recitals in contralto has spent a summer rest- more than 70 different cities. ing and replenishing her repertory The greatest concert in Miss An- which numbers in hundrerN of songs. derson's career occurred in 1939 when Since the termination of her last she sang before 75,000 persons gath- tour, Miss Anderson has received ered in front of the Lincoln Me- many honors which typify the high morial in Washington. regard and respect in which she is M1is Anderson, popularly known as held by the American people.h the First Lady of the concert world, March, she received the Bok award, in addition to the aforementioned the placque and the $10.000 check to honors has won the Sinar which goes to the one who has con-; %eaan aotrhnrrydc tributed most to the honor of Phila- Mealmand ard U noraty delphia. This, her native city, be- torate from Howar niversi stowed still another gift upon her when Temple University conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Music upon Miss Anderson. Born of a family of little mens m Philadelphia, Miss Anderson' ri to fame was due entirely to her musi- cal abilities and the generosity of her friends in providing her with funds for her education. It was only after the close of a sensational two-year circuit in Eur- ope in 1933, that te United States fully realized the abilities of the great contralto and she returned to MOTION OPERA PICTURES CON CERT RECORDINGS RADIO ELIX KNI H T TENOR Despite his yotilh, F ELIX KNIGHT, lyric tenor, has made for himself an enviable reputation In widely diversified fields, Made his operatic debut in "Cavalleria Rusticana," and followed this success with "Rigoletto" and "La Traviata." Knight has appeared in many radio _ roles, and has recorded the George Gershwin Memorial Album and the Jerome Kern Album. w ,j Jtiva Highee Leads City Youth Chorus Juva Higbee, director of the Youth Festival Chorus, has been active in choral work since an .early age. Supervisor of music in, the Ann Arbor public schools for the past 15 years, Miss Higbee received her music training at the American Conserva- tory of Music in Chicago, Northwest- ern University and Hillsdale College. She has also studied under numerous American choral conductors. To her inspiring leadership the Youth Cho- rus owes a large measure of its suc- cess. ,. il Serqei kRACH M AINI11MNIQEE WORLD-FAMOUS PIANIST SERGLI RACl-VMANINuF F is unqueshonubly one of the greatest musicians of this epoch. His majestic personality and genius have colored three fields of music, bringing him fame as a piarist, composer and conductor. His pianistic art has ripened more gloriously with each succeeding year, and he now stands at the pinnacle of his career as a virtuoso, SATURDAY AFTERNOON, MAY 9th m I I 0 7 MA RI4N 11 fNDER SON I The Great American Contralto I "I icr conocerts have impressed people chiefly, of cOurSc, by the beauty of her voice and by her challenging per- sonality; but the quality of the music which she has sung has been of the highest, and after her programs anything less fine seems cheap indeed." -JOHN ERSKINV, Libery MaPazii She is a true concert singer whose grip on the public is steel, She is that certain powerful sort of musical attraction that people mean when they speak of "the good old days," FEUERMAAiNIM VIOLONCELLIST EMANUEL FEUERMAN has been pronounced by leading musical authorities to be not only the greatest cellist now on the concert stage, but also one of the foremost living musicians. "Amazing command - rich, varied and expressive I tone. A vital performance" --New York Sun. THURSDAY EVEN1ING, ,MAY 7th -- ARCIA DAVENPORT, CJOllie ''S )V[ft0 J"C ' I III 11 I Ii (11 I