CHORAL UNION SUPPLEMENT Y A6P tiis CHORAL UNION SUPPLEMENT VOL. LVII, No. 6 ANN AtJ[OR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1946 Pi~CE FvE CENTS Annual Concert eries illg0en Oct. 10 James Melton To Open Fall Music Series singer Is Also Noted For Radio, Film Roles The initial attraction of the Choral Union Series will be James Melton, radio, concert, opera and movie star, who will appear here Oct. 10. Melton is nationally known for his personality and acting as well as for the voice which has made him "Amer- ica's favorite tenor." His debut with the Metropolitan Opera, Company was made only after many successful years on top-flight radio programs and he is now dividing his time be- tween concert tours and movie-mak- ing. When he entered the University of Florida, in 1920, however, he was planning on becoming a lawyer. The president of the university heard him singing one day, however, and ad- vised him to devote his time to voice. Melton therefore transferred to Van- derbilt University to study under Gaetano de Luca. He played saxo- phone in the orchestra of a hotel to earn his expenses there and eventu- ally saved enough money to carry him to New York and, as later events proved, to a top rank among singers. After six years of star perform- ances on radio programs Melton started his country-wide concert tours. One of the first of these was made with George Gershwin, whose songs Melton sang in 28 concerts dur- ing as many days. Operatic appear- ances with the Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Opera Companies fol- lowed, and his successes in these led to his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1942. Melton was first engaged for mo- tion picture work in 1936. Having made three pictures, he left Holly- wood to establish himself as a serious artist of the .,oncert and. opera stage In 1944, with his reputation as a lead- ing Metropolitan tenor firmly estab- lished, he again signed a movie con- tract. He recently completed "Zieg- feld Follies" and is now working on his musical version of "Cimarron." During the war Melton made ex- tensive tours of service hospitals, where he presented programs espe- cially planned to carry out the theory of musical therapy as a significant factor in restoring health and sta- bility. He believes that music for the hospitalized should be simple and melodious and therefore planned the programs around the Scotch and Irish ballads and American folksongs which have been so popular with his concert audiences. His repertoire is one of the most comprehensive in the musical world. Soci*ety Brings Great Artists Rachmaninoff, Enesco Have Performed Here For 68 successive years it has been the aim of the University Musical So- ciety to present the best obtainable in concert performers to Ann Arbor au- diences. The list- of artists who have appeared locally reads like a musical who's-who. Concerts during the last 10 years, for example, have been given by the following stars: 1936 Kirsten Flagstad, Chicago Sym- phony, Moscow Cathedral Choir, Jascha Heiftz, Boston Symphony, Josef Hoffmann, Detroit Symphony, Gregor Piatigorsky, Artur Schnabel, Nelson Eddy. 1937 Rachmaninoff, Cleveland Sym- phony Orchestra, Richard Crooks, Fritz Kreisler, Boston Symphony, Ruth Slenczynski, Helsinski Univer- sity Chorus, Gina Cigna, Roth String Quartet and Georges Enesco. 1938 Lawrence Tibbett, Cleveland Or- chestra, Jse Iturbi, Kirsten Flagstad, Boston Symphony, Josef Hoffmann, Budapest University Chorus, Yehudi Menuhin, GregortPiatigorsky and Roth String Quartet. 1939 Rachmaninoff, Fritz Kreisler, Alexander Kipnis, New York Phil- harmonic, Jussi Bjoerling, Boston Symphony, Kirsten Flagstad, Robert ArivnA_ Bartlett. and Robertson, Ar- Concert Schedule James Melton........ Oct. 10 Eugene Istomin ........ Oct. 30. Cleveland Orchestra ..Nov. 1 George Szell, Conductor Yehudi Menuhin ...... Nov. 19 Icelandic Singers ...... Nov. 25 Sigurdur Thordarson Conductor Boston Symphony Orchestra ...............Dec. 9 Serge Koussevitzky, Conductor Vladimir Horowitz .... Jan. 17 Detroit Symphony Or- chestra ............ Feb. 17 Karl Krueger, Conductor Lotte Lehmann ........ Feb. 26 Chicago Symphony Or- chestra .......... March 16 Desire Defauw, Conductor 'ARS LONGA' Musical Society President Gives Annual Message The following is the annual mes- sage of Dr. Charles A. Sink, presi- dent of the University Musical So- ciety: For the sixty-eighth consecutive year the University Musical Society 6resents to the University community a comprehensive group of musical programs in the Choral Union Series. Attractions of Worth In accordance with long-estab- lished tradition, only attractions of accepted musical worth are included. This season the Choral Union Series will provide five recitals by distin- guished performers - two by singers of widely contrasting types; one by a distinguished violinist, and two by pianists. Five major ensemble groups will also be heard - a world-re- nowned chorus on its first visit to America, and four major symphony orchestras will be included. Other Programs In addition to this series, during the year the Society will present other programs, including the annual May Festival of six concerts, the Chamber Music Festival of three concerts, a performance of Handel's "Messiah"; and other special con- certs which will be announced from time to time. Together these per- formances provide opportunities for a liberal cultural education supple- mentary to the curricula provided in the numerous schools and colleges of the University. The Board of Directors of the So- ciety deeply appreciates the stim- lating cooperation and support of the music-loving public so graciously pro- vided in the years gone by, and with full confidence trusts that the offer- ings this year will meet with the same enthusiastic endorsement by those interested in the development of good music along broad, compre- hensive lines. This, in accordance with the legend adopted by the So- ciety's founders: "Ars Longa Vita Brevis." CHARLES A. SINK President Concertmaster Owns Old VIOIn The violin used by John Weicher, concertmaster of the Cleveland Or- chestra, is one of the few famed in- struments left in the world. It is one of the finest examples of the work of Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (1698-1744), the only one in the history of violin-making whose in- struments will stand comparison with those of Antonio Stradivari. This instrument, known as the "Baron Vitta," was made in 1730, at which time del Gesu was greatly in- fluenced by Stradivari, whose shop was only a few doors distant. Famed Boston Symphony To Make 17th Appearance Old Timers Four Orchestras, Soloists, Chorus To Perform Here, Presenting its 17th consecutive per-1 formance here, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will appear Dec. 9 at Hill Auditorium.E Serge Koussevitzky, conductor, has1 George Szell Is New Conductor With Cleveland Orchestra To Appear G Here November 10 The Cleveland Orchestra, which will appear Nov. 10 at Hill Audito- rium, is making its first tour under the direction of its new conductor, George Szell. Szell is the fourth of the conduc- tors who have played leading parts in the development of the orchestra. His predecessors were Nikolai Soko- loff, Artur Dodzinski and Erich Leinsdorf. Under his leadership the orchestra is returning substantially enlarged to the many cities in which it appears season after season. The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918 by the Musical Arts Association of Cleveland. Children's concerts and popular concerts were given from the beginning, but there were only two formal symphony con- certs the first year. Growth was rapid, and now the or- chestra gives over 150 concerts in its 28-week season-two regular sub- scription series of symphony concerts, 12 Sunday "Twilight Concerts" at popular prices, about 25 children's concerts in cooperation with the pub- lic schools of Cleveland and others while on tour, all-star popular con- certs, and joint performances with the Ballet Russe and Ballet Theatre. In addition to this strenuous pro- gram of concerts in Cleveland, the orchestra also presents about 50 con- certs on tour every season, from Canada to Cuba, and from the east coast as far west as Kansas City. It also broadcasts through 200 stations in the United States and 39 stations of the Mexican network, in addition to Canadian and short-wave affili- ates. George Szell, who was appointed to direct the orchestra after a two-weeks period as guest conductor in the 1944-45 season, was born in Budapest in 1897. He studied piano in Vienna with Richard Robert, and gave his first public concert at the age of 11. He has conducted at the Court Thea- tre in Darmstadit, the Municipal Theatre in Dusseldorf, the Berlin State Opera, the Symphony Orches- tra of the Berlin Broadcasting Com- pany, and the Scottish Orchestra of Glasgow, where he succeeded John Gabrilowitch's baton, was broad- Finding himself "marooned'' in New York at the beginning of the war, Szell decided to remain in this country. He made his New York de- but in 1941 as guest conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra at the in- vitation of Toscanini. He has had engagements with orchestras in Bos- ton, New York, Philadelphia, Chi- cago, Los Angeles, Detroit and Cleve- land; he is also a regular conductor of Metropolitan Opera. Rudolph Ringwall, associate con- ductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, was a graduate and later a faculty member of the New England Con- servatory in Boston, and has played See SZELL, Page 3 headed the orchestra for more than 20 years. Previously he had conduct- ed an orchestra in Moscow and St. Petersburg, touring the Volga River cities. Later, in Paris, he instituted the "Concerts Koussevitzky," just prior to coming to America. As conductor of the Boston Sym- phony, he brought the group to the pinnacle of artistic fame. His pro- grams have included not only estab- lished classics, but have provided an opportunity for modern composers in presenting their works to present-day audiences. .The orchestra was first organized in Boston by Henry L. Higginson in 1881. As a music student in Vienna, he had been impressed with the need for a highly expert orchestra, profes- sionally maintained, in America. He engaged the best musicians, with Georg Mhenschel, a young singer and composer, as their conductor. Henschel was succeeded after two years by Wilhelm Gericke. He was followed by Arthur Nikisch, a Hun- garian whose conducting at Leipzig had been attracting attention. Emil Paur, the successor of Nikisch at the Opera in Leipzig, likewise succeeded him as conductor of the Boston Sym- phony Orcestra. Following the return of Gericke from 1898 to 1906, Higginson secured Karl Muck, conductor at the Royal Opera in Berlin, to head his orches- tra. Muck was recalled for four years, during which time his former col- league in Hamburg, Max Fiedler, con- ducted. In 1912 Muck was permitted by his government to return. With a board of trustees assuming the responsibility of the orchestra in place of Higginson, Henri Rabaud, a Parisian composer, was engaged as conductor. Pierre Monteux, of the Metropolitan Opera Company, fol- lowed, holding the post until Kousse- vitzky's arrival. The orchestra's Pop Concerts given during May, June and July in Sym- phony Hall have almost as long a history as the winter concerts. Be- gun in the spring of 1885, the "Pops" developed into an institution of Bos- ton's spring and early summer, with wine and other refreshments served during the concert at tables on the floor of the Hall. In 1940, Koussevitzky realized his plan of establishing a center of the arts designed to help music students, the Berkshire Music Center. Auditorium Is Paraboloidal Excellent Acoustics Help Concert Artists World-famous performers in the field .of music will appear this year in Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium, whose streamlined design makes it one of the most accoustically perfect halls in America. The auditorium was built in 1913 and almost immediately became a favorite with musicians because of its fine sound reflection. Paderewski in an early performance described it as "the finest auditorium in the world." Funds for the auditorium were do- nated by Arthur Hill, lawyer, alum- nus and regent of the University. Dedication was in the early summer of 1913, although the first perform- ance was the May Festival of that year. Seating approximately 5,000 per- sons, the auditorium is designed on the parabaloid principle-like the headlight of an automobile-which allows direct and indirect sound waves to reach the ears of the lis- tener at the same time. This brings clean, clear music even to the gal- lery audience. SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY ... seventeenth performance here * .,* VLADIMIR HOROWITZ . . . pianist here for sixth time * * Music Lovers Awaiting Sixth Horowitz Visit Ann Arbor music lovers will prob- ably extend a special welcome to pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who will appear here for the sixth time when he presents the seventh concert in the Choral Union series. Scheduled to play here on Friday, January 17, Horowitz will be remem- bered by many for his previous ap- pearances in 1928, 1930, 1933, 1941 and 1945. The son of an electrical engineer, Simeon Horowitz, the pianist was born in Kiev, Russia, in a house on Musikalni Pereulak, which means, appropriately, Music Street. Revealing his musical inclinations at six, he received his first piano les- sons from his mother. At 16, after studying with Felix Blumenfeld, pupil of Anton Rubinstein, he graduated from the Conservatory with the high- est honors. His formal debut took place in Kharkov, Russia, in May, 1920. The following year he gave over 70 con- certs, 23 of them in Leningrad. His first European tour in 1924 took him to Holland, Italy, Austria, Spain and France. Subsequent tours of Ger- many, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and England followed. On January 12, 1928, he made his American debut with the New York Philharmonic Smyphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, selecting as his major work Tchaikowsky's Piano Concerto in B. Flat Minor, a work which has since become increasingly popular at con- certs. During the war, Horwitz raised mil- lions of dollars in war bonds by giv- ing concerts, including a concert ap- pearance at Carnegie Hall with Ar- turo Toscanini which grossed $11,- See HOROWITZ, Page 2 The sixty-eighth successive ChoralI Union concert series, including fourt major symphony orchestras, a dis- tinguished choral group on its first visit to America and five solo artistst in recital, will open Thursday, Oct. 10, in Hill Auditorium.- Starting Time All concerts will start at 8:30 p.m. except for the Cleveland and Chi- cago Orchestras, which will begin their performances at 7 p.m. The Choral Union concerts are pre- sented by the University Musical So- ciety, a non-profit corporation de- voted to educational purposes. During its entire existence its concerts have been maintained by the sale of tick- ets of admission. Ticket Sale Patrons desiring tickets for this year's concerts should inquire at the University Musical Society, whose of- fices are located on the ground floor' of Burton Tower. The first concert of this year's ser- ies will be presented by the popular romantic tenor James Melton, a fa- vorite of American opera, concert, stage, screen and radio audiences. Second Concert For the second concert this year, on Oct. 30, Eugene Istomin, 21-year- old pianist, will replace Egon Petri, who has cancelled his concert tour because of illness. Istomin, when 17 years old, won the coveted Philadel- phia Youth Contest, which gave him an appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, and the Leventritt Prize, which brought an engagement in Carnegie Hall with the Philharmonic Orches- tra. Yehudi Menuhin, top-flight violin virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, Russian- American pianist, and Lotte Leh- mann, leading soprano of the Metro- politan Opera Company, are the oth- er solo artists who will appear in this year's series. Icelandic Singers The Icelandic Singers, under the direction of Sigurdur Thordarson, will appear Nov. 25 in Ann Arbor as part of its first visit to America. Members of the armed forces who were sta- tioned in Iceland have expressed great enthusiasm over this unique choral group. First of the symphony orchestras included in the series will be the Cleveland Orchestra, which will ap- pear Nov. 10 under the baton of its new conductor, George Szel. Others are the Boston Symphony, under Serge Koussevitsky, on Dec. 9, the Detroit Symphony and its American conductor, Karl Krueger on Feb. 17, and the Chicago Symphony, Desire Choral Union's Histor Ty Traced Originally Sang Handel For Church Benefits From benefits for ladies' aid so- cieties to one of the most outstanding concert series in the country-that's the end-to-end history of the Uni- versity Choral Union Society. The 68-year-old organization -- which this year will again bring to Ann Arbor a list of world-renowned musicians-started out as a group of singers from the choirs of the Con- gregational, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. Began as Messiah Club For a short time it was known as the Messiah Club, limiting its efforts to the singing of choruses from Han- del's oratoria. Then its sphere was extended to include general choral works, other singers-including stu- dents-were admitted and the name of the group was changed to its present one. Its first concert was given in the Congregational Church, the second in the Methodist and the third in the Presbyterian-all for the benefit of the four churches' respective ladies' aid societies. The society met, and overcame, many obstacles during its early years. Defauw, conductor, which will close the concert series on March 16, Officers of the University Musical Society are Charles A. Sink, presi- dent, Alexander G. Ruthven, vice- president, Shirley W. Smith, secre- tary, and Oscar A. Eberbach, treas- urer. Pianist Istomtin Replaces Petri lin 2nd Concert Russian-Born Artist Is Outstanding at 21 In place of Egon Petri, who has cancelled his concert tours because of illness, Eugene Istomin, pianist, will be heard in the Choral Union Series Wednesday, Oct. 20. Istomin, who was born in New York of Russian parents, won the Philadel- phia Youth Contest award when he was seventeen years old. This award included an appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra un- der Eugene Ormandy. The same month he won the Leventritt prize, giving him an enagagement in Car- negie Hall with the Philharmonic Or- chestra under Artur Rodzinski. Outstanding Talents Of the latter performance the New York Times said, "It left no doubt as to his outstanding talents, and his debut must be reckoned an outstand- ing success." After this double-debut, Adolph Busch, distinguished violinist and conductor, invited Istomin to be solo- ist at a Town Hall concert of his Little Symphony in March, 1944. This year's appearance, his first in Ann Arbor, is part of his third country- wide tour, devoted half to individual recitals, half to appearances as solo- ist with the Busch Little Symphony. He is now 21 years old, Not Child Prodigy Istomin, who was singing arias and songs in Italian, French and Russian at the age of two, could very easily have become a "child prodigy." His parents, however, never exploit- ed him, and encouraged him to de- velop extra-musical interests and abilities. At the age of four, when his mother crooned gpysy melodies, he would improvise accompaniments for her on the piano. One night, when he was six, he was allowed to accompany her on the con- cert stage. Among the audience that night was the great pianist Alexander Siloti, a pupil of Franz Liszt. He took a great interest in the young pianist, and suggested to the parents that Eugene start music lessons immedi- ately. When Istomin was 14 he en- tered the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied under the noted pianist Rudolph Serkin. When he won the coveted Leventritt and Phil- adelphia awards he had only once performed in public and once over the radio with fellow Curtis students. Although he has many interests outside of music, Istomin's hobby is studying the pre-Bach composers. He is distressed that so many books be- gin the history of music with Bach, since "some of the most appealing music was written before the 17th Century." DesireDef auw To Direct Here D6sire Defauw, musical director and conductor of the Chicago Sym- phony Orchestra, will bring his musi- cians here Mar. 16 for the final con- cert in the 1946-47 Choral Union ser- ies. Dr. Defauw is in his third year as conductor of this well-known orches- tral organization, which was founded in 1891 by Theodore Thomas with the support of a number of public-spir- ited Chicagoans. For its first 14 years it was known as the "Chicago Or- chestra," and then for seven and a i Ticket Sales Tickets for the Choral Union Series are now exhausted. Ticket sales for special additional con- certs will be announced from time to time. RACK FROM EUROPEAN TOUR: Violinist Yehudi* Menuhin To Play Here World-famed violinist Yehudi Menuhin. will appear on the Choral Union Concert Series Nov. 19. Recently returned from Europe, Menuhin has been recording his music on sound track for a British film, "The Magic Bow," to be re- been liberated. In Moscow, where he appeared under the auspices of Voks, a Soviet organization for foreign cul- tural exchange, he was greeted at the airport by a delegation of all the leading Russian musicians, and was enthusiastically received during his During the war, Menuhin played more than 400 concerts for the Ameri- can and Allied armed forces. He fol-' lowed in the path of our invasion forces, at the request of Gen. Eisen- hower, playing in Antwerp and Rot- terdam while the cannons were still roaring in the suburbs. Other over- :':..._.. 'S' ....: . 34tet: : .............