F T E MICHIGA . DA1LY
SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 1949
LEONARD WARREN:
'U-, 'Uw S
New Met Star
-41
Ex-Businessman Liecomes To Appear in
Metropolitan Opera Baritone Last Concert
GLAMOU1R IN MUSIC:
Major Symphony Orchestras
Feature Feminine Musicians
If Leonard Warren had not been
fired for singing at his bookkeep-
ing, he probably would now be a
first-rate businessman instead of
leading American baritone of the
Metropolitan Opera Co.
A graduate of Columbia Uni-
versity, Warren was groomed for
a business career, but soon decided
to concentrate on his vocal abil-
ities. Although his voice was un-
trained, he held a position in the
Radio City Music Hall Glee Club
for three years, and then was
accepted by the Metropolitan,
even though he knew no opera.
Seven at Once
The young baritone spent the
next six months in Milan, Italy,
where, under great masters, he
learned seven operatic roles at the
same time. He was greatly aided
in his studies by a Julliard grad-
uate, young, blonde and Brook-
lyn-born, whom he married upon
his return to the United States.
After his Metropolitan debut in
1939, Leonard Warren rose quick-
ly to the top. He is an outstand-
ing favorite in South America,
and has been hailed as Colon's
gran divo. Warren is a member
of five opera companies, two in
South America, three in the Unit-
ed States. He has appeared as
guest soloist on the radio and
with symphony orchestras, and is
a popular recording artist.
Ann Arbor Debut
Warren will make his Ann Ar-
bor debut on Saturday, May 1,
when he will participate in the
May Festival. His repertoire will
include selections from "Othello,"
"Pagliacci," and "Rigoletto."
Unlike many young singers of
today, Warren does not believe
in the practice of translating
opera into English. He feels that
something is definitely lost in the
translation.
"If we're going to have operas
in English," he states, "they must
be written in English."
One curious quirk of Warren's
is his refusal to watch the per-
formance of any opera in which
he himself has not played. This
is because he is afraid of being
influenced by the other singer's
interpretations. As for stage
fright, he is not infallible. How- ,
ever, Warren has a peculiar idio- ;E ,
syncracy - he gets it after the Contralto, Hits Top
performance !
Warren says that he received Clue Elmo, brilliant new Metro-
the biggest thrill of his life when politan Opera star, will appear in
he flew over the Andes. "I won't the last Festival concert, singing
easily forget it, and my favorite selections from the works of Doni-
dance is the Samba of Brazil." zetti, Gluck, Verdi and Massenet.
Warren's interests are not con-' zei GlucktVer ondtaneta
fined strictly to the music world.,d Hei recent Metropolitan Opera
Among his many hobbies ie debut in Verdi's Il Travatore" was
classes fishing and golf as among the only unqualified success ofh
his favorites. His collection of nine Met debuts. She has been
miniature railroads, which occu- widely acclaimed for her magni-
plies arominent sot inhi-Nowficant mezzo-soprano voice andj
V.c W11 11GS311 w ..
York apartment, also claims much
of Warren's time when he is not
keeping broadcasting and record-
ing engagements.
UJack-of All
Trades' Endls
As Musiciani
Samuel Lifschey, solo viola
player of the Philadelphia Orches-'
tra, took a long time making up
his mind to be a professional musi-
cian, for he was at different times
interested in pharmacy, dentistry,
civil engineering and financial
statistics.
Born in New York, Lifschey got
practical experience in his father's
drugstore and was eventually reg-
istered as a junior pharmacist. La-
ter, after preparing for dental
school, he decided to go into civil'
engineering and won a scholarship
to Cornell in a competitive exam-
ination.
Meanwhile, music had been his
hobby. He studied violin, theory
and viola, and accepted an oppor-
tunity to become solo violist with
the New York Symphony under
Walter Damrosch.
Finally settled on a career of
music, the versatile Lifschey gave
up bride-building, played with or-
chestras in Cleveland and Detroit,
and in 1925 became head of the
viola section of the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
dramatic power, with forecasts as-
suring her promising future in
this country.
Career Begins
Miss Elmo came to the United
States from Italy with a small
opera company last winter. She
auditioned for the Met and was
accepted. An appearance with the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
a few days before her debut in
New York, had already established
her a place in the American mu-
sical world.
Miss Elmo was born in Lecce,
Italy, the daughter of a music
teacher. Her father recognized her
talents, but the family as a whole
disapprove'd of a professional ca-
reer for her. However, at sixteen.
she was allowed to go to Rome
where she studied for five years.
The Winner
While still in Rome, she jour-
neyed to Vienna for an interna-
tional voice competition. She won
over 570 other students, some of
whom were already beginning
their professional careers and who
represented forty-seven nationali-
ties. Incidentally she met Giovan-
ni Magnoni, a student of political
science and economics, in Rome,
whom she later married in 1943.
After her graduation, she sang
operatic roles in her native Italy,
then became a member of the
Royal Opera in Bucharest. She
sang for La Scala for the first time
in 1936, singing the role of Dame
Quickly in "Falstaff."
Miss Elmo has appeared in
many European countries includ-
ing Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria,
and Switzerland.
.I
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FESTIVAL STARS-Virginia MacWatters, soprano, and Nell
Tangeman, colortura, will star as feminine soloisty in the second
May Festival concert, joining the Choral Union in a presentation
of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.
*
FE ININI< SOLOISTS-
MlaeXWatters,'aieuit
In Mozait's (Minor Mass
The mere fact that a symphony
musician happens to be a woman
is no bar to membership in the
Philadelphia Orchestra, provided
that the woman plays as well as
her masculine colleagues.
Testimony for this is shown by
i the fact that four or five women
have been with the orchestra for
many years. Other major orches-
tras have followed suit, and there
are now 210 women out of a pos-
sible 1.513 musicians in 18 profes-
poe-sional symphonies. I
The first woman to join the
Philadelphia's ranks wcs Edna
Phillips, harpist from 1930 to 1946.
At present, five are on the sym-
phony's roster.
First Female
Elsa Hilger, who shares first
desk 'cello, was the first woman
musician outside of harpists in any
major orchestra. She was engaged
by the Philadelphia in 1935, after
beginning her career at nine years
of age in Vienna, where she and
her two sisters, a pianist and vio-
linist, formed a sort of chamber-
music "sister act." They came to
this country in 1922.
Lois Putlitz, the blond who trip-
les in violin, piano and celesta, has
also been with the orchestra for
over a decade. She originally
comes from Omaha and played as
a child prodigy with the Hollywood
Bowl Orchestra.
Like Father?
Veda Reynolds, another member
of the first violin section, joined
the Philadelphia Orchestra in
1943. She had a good start toward
a musical career, since her father
was concertmaster of the Denver
Symphony.
First Harpist Marilyn Costello,
like Miss Putlitz, was a child
prodigy. She began as a pianist,
but because her high school band
in Cleveland needed a harpist, she
took up the instrument and has
continued at it ever since. She
C>
.. .._
studied with Alice Chalifoux in
Cleveland and with Carlos Salzedo
at Curtis.
The most recent addition to the
orchestra's feminine number is
Jill Bailiff, second harpist, for
whom this is a first professional
engagement. She, like Miss Cos-
tello, was lured away from the
piano, in this case by a Christmas
present from a harp-loving grand-
mother. From Jackson, Miss., Miss
Bailiff is also a Salzedo-Curtis
student.
Concerts ...
(Continued from Page 1)
The orchestra will also present
four dances from Khachaturian's
"Gayne" suite.
Leonard Warren, Metropolitan
Opera baritone will make his Ann
Arbor debut in the fourth May,
Festival concert, singing a group
of operatic arias by Veidi and
Leoncavallo. Eugene Ormandy will
lead the Philadelphia Orchestra
in a performance of Sibelius's sec-
ond Symphony.
An agl-Rachmaninoff program
will feature the University Choral
Union in the fifth concert, per-
forming "The Bells." Solo por-
tions of the piece will feature
Anne. Bollinger, soprano; David
Lloyd, tenor; and James Pease,
baritone. Rachmaninoff's Second
Piano Concerto will feature Leon
Fleisher, young American pian-
ist, in his first Ann Arbor pro-
gram.
Cloe Elmo, contralto, will join
with Eugene Ormandy and the
Philadelphia Orchestra in the
closing program of the series,
singing operativ areias by Gluck,
Donizetti, Massenet and Verdi.
The Festival will'close with a per-
formance of Respighi's symphonic
poem, "Feste Romana."
Wide Range
Of Selections
Wins Acclaim
(Continued from Page 1)
field. Wrote the French composer
Hectore Berlioz:
"The overture is crowned queen:
no one dreams of disputing it. It
is cited as the model of its kind.
It strikes home to the heart and is
one of the most novel, poetic, and
beautiful contrasts that modern
art has produced in music."
One of the least known works to
be performed at the festival is Mo-
zart's Flute Concerto, written by
the great classicist despite his dis-
like for that instrument,
Of the much played Rachman-
inoff Second Piano Concerto, to be
presented by the young pianist
Leon Fleisher at the Sunday after-
noon performance, little remains
to be said, but Philip Hale, Bos-
ton Symphony Orchestra critic,
writes tersely:
" . ..It might have been writ-
ten by any German technically
well trained, who was acquainted
with the music of Tschaikovsky."
Artists Adorn
OfficeWalls
Stars of former Festivals will
greet this yeai's galaxy when they
enter the headquai'ters room of the
University Musical Society.
Pictures of the musical greats of
the last quarter century almost
completely cover the walls of the
big rooms where the Choral Union
has its offices. They were collected
by Dr. Charles A. Sink, president
of the University Musical Society.
Each of the pictures is auto-
graphed and many bear personal
inscriptions. In adjacent frames
are Fritz Crisler, Lily Pons, John
Philip Sousa, Nelson Eddy-all of
whom have entertained at one
time in Ann Arbor.
1';
Featured as feminine soloists in
the second. May 'Festival conceit,
Friday, April 30, are soprano Vi '-
ginia MacWatters and coloratura{
Nell Tangeman, who will join the
Choral Union in a presentation of
Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.
Miss MacWatters, a native of
the city of Brotherly Love, was
early steeped in musical tradition.
She was first taught to play the
piano, with the idea of becoming a
concert pianist. Her voice was not
given huch attention until she
played a leading role in a school
operetta.
Lehman's Protege
Her greatest encouragement
came from Mme. Lotte Lehmann,
who took time off from a Phila-
delphia concert to give Miss Mac-
Watters a personal audition.
Participation in the Metropoli-
tan Opera Company's "Audition of
the Air" won her an award and
the role of Adele in the New Opera
Co.'s production of 'Rosalinda.'
She then appeared in recitals and
concerts in the East and West
coasts with such famous orches-
tras as the New York Philhar-
monic and the Chicago Symphony.
London Debut
The young soprano recently
made her London debut in the
Covent Garden in the title role of
'Manon.' Even greater praises were
laid at her feet as she continued
her English performances in
Strauss' Rosenkavalier' and Mo-
zart's 'Magic Flute.'
While under contract to appear
with the Glyndebourne. Opera at
the International Festival of Mu-
sic and Drama in Edinburgh, she
made a flight to the United States
in order to star in the "Viennese
Night' at the Hollywood Bowl in
July, 1947.
Nell Tangeman began her mu-
sical career as an instrumentalist,
too, but her interest was in the
violin. She started lessons at the
age of six.
Voice Scholarship
After receiving her degree at
Ohio State University, Miss Tan-
geman continued her study as a
voice scholarship student of Ne-
vada Vanderveer at the Cleveland
Institute of Music.
Her musical training was com-
pleted in New York City, where
she studied the art of lieder under
Fritz Lehmann, and opera and
oratoric repertoire with Margaret
Matzenauer. Her intimate knowl-
edge of French style derives from
her work with the great musician,
Nadia Boulanger.
- - ---- . ....
A NEW AND LARGER AUDITORIUM
IS NEEDED FOR MICHIGAN STUDENTS
In 1945 Miss Tangenman sang
'Das Lied von der'Erde" of Gus-
tav Maller with the Cincinnati
Symphony under Eugene Goossens.
One year later she appeared in a
pe formance of Stravinsky's mod-
ern score "Oedipus Rex" with the
New~ York Symphony under Leon-
ard lb'rnstein.
In May 1947 Miss Tangeman ap-
peared in the first New York per-
formance of Aaron Copland's "In
the Begirning" under Robert
Shaw. The' following week she
sang the cla. sic and religious mu-
sic of Bach's .B Mi Mass at the
National Cathedial in Washing-
ton. D.C.
"Poemes poui' Mi of the French
composer Olivier Messiaen were
first performed in America by Miss
Tangeman at a League of Com-
posers Concert in New York in
March 1946.
,!
A GLV iLt LA
MAY
IFIESI!I
VA
IL
HIL L AUDITORIUM was constructed
from funds be-
quaethed to the University by the late Arthur
Hill, a loyal and generous son of Michigan,
more than thirty-five years ago. Ignace Jan
Paderewski pronounced it "the finest music hall
in the wQfdd." For a long time it was so regarded.
With the passage of years, however, the audi-
torium has long since lost this distinction. With
the growth of the University and the widespread
advance in musical culture and appreciation, it
rio longer adequately serves its original purpose.
The University Musical Society hopes, and
believes, that there are other public-spirited cit-
izens who would like to provide funds for a
NEW AUDITORIUM, equipped in all respects
to meet present-day needs.
Such a building
with increased capacity
would make possible the presentation of musical
programs of greater magnitude, including grand
ope-a in its best tradition. It would serve as an
outstanding educational and cultural factor, and
would also bring to the University many alumni,
interested friends, and the public in general who
are desirous of hearing the best programs under
favorable conditions,
AIRS LONGA VITA BREVIS
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FESTIVAIJ ARTISTS
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EUGENE ORMAN91Y
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