THE M-1 (IN XWL
i T ilitrtlr-
Tanri Williams
IN FESTIV AL FINALE:
Pia- Tassinari Will Make Local Debut
(.)
Appearing for the first time in
the May Festival is Pia Tassinari,
brilliant Metropolitan Opera So-
prano.
Miss Tassinari will appear with
Eugene Ormandy and the Phila-1
delphia Orchestra in the last con-
cert May 8.
ACCLAIMED by the American
press as "an artist of intensityl
and purest vocal timber" and
"reminiscent of Lucrezia Bori,"
Miss Tassinari's name is connect-,
ed with another famous musical
personality, her husband Ferruc-
cio Taglavini, Metropolitan tenor.
The Washington Post said of
her performance in the na-
tional Capitol: "She evoked tu-
multuous shouts, whistles, cheers
and other forms of ovation
from an audience which ap-
plauded every note."
Olin Downes, New York Times
music critic, said, "After Tassin-
ai's 'Vissi D'Arte,' (Tosca), the
show was held up by the ap-
plause."
PIA TASSINARI
same opera in which her husband
made his debut earlier in Flor-
ence.
After a successful opening
MISS TASSINARI was born in tour of the top opera houses of
Faenza, near Bologna, Italy, where Italy, Miss Tassinari gave re-
she first took her lessons under citals in Europe and made a
Maestro Vezzani, also the teacher pre-war tour of Russia.
of basso Ezio Pinza. Her debut It was during the war in Sicily
came soon after, at Genoa in Puc- that she first met Tagliavini and
cini's opera "La Boheme," the sang opposite him in "L'Amico
Wien~awski Coieerto Will Be,
Played Here by Eriea Morini
Fritz.' The performance was in-
terrupted by an air raid and ro-
mance followed. After their mar-
riage in 1941, the Tagliavinis de-1
lighted audiences throughout Eu-
rope and in South Amercia.
AIlM tI('AN opera - goers got
their first view of Miss Tassinari
in 1947 when she and Tagliavini
sang Puccini's "Tosca," revealing
dramatic intensity and a tender,
messo-voce. She also made a tour
of. American cities and appeared
with her husband several times
on NBC's "Telephone Hour."
The Italian soprano has a
repertoire of 48 operas as well
as extensive song' literature for
concert programs, and has made
recordings both in this coun-
try and abroad. In Europe she
recorded the entire version of
Mozart's "Requiem" and starred
in "L'Amico Fritz" under its
composer, Mascagni, just before
his death.
Miss Tassinari's program for the
Sunday evening Festival concert
will include "O del mio dolce ar-
dor" from "Paride od Elena," by
Gluck; "Deli vieni," from "The
Marriage of Figaro," by Mozart;
"Vio 1o sapete" from Cavalleria
Rusticana," by Mascagni; and
"L'altra notte" from "Mefistofele."
by Boito.
Ten Soloists ...
(Continued from Page 1)
Set Svanholm, outstanding
Swedish tenor and a recognized
authority in Wagnerian operas,
will sing in the opening concert
Thursday night, an all-Wagner
program.
Harold Haugh, well-known ora-
torio singer, who has performed1
here dn two previous occasions in
Handel's "Messiah", will sing the
tenor role in the Gomer work Sun-
day afternoon.
'CELLIST Gregor Piatigorsky,
veteran performer in both Festi-
vals and concerts here, will play
Dvorak's Concerto for Violoncello
in the second part of the Sunday
afternoon program.
Erica Morini, violinist, will
play Wieniawski's Violin Con-
certo in the Saturday afternoon
program. This work has never
been heard before at the Festi-
vals.
The Philadelphia Orchestra will
provide a musical background for
all six concerts. Eugene Ormandy
will conduct the Thursday, Satur-
day and Sunday night concerts.
Thor Johnson will direct Friday
night and Sunday afternoon.
'U' Hall Housed First
FestIIml 't55 YearsA y
The May Festival was born on a rainy night 55 years ago this
spring, and since then has weathered a storm of wars and depressions
to become one of the nation's biggest musical events.
Back in the fall of 1893, the Board of Directors of the University
Musical Society invited the Boston Symphony Orchestra to come to
Ann Arbor in Mav as < Ocnd climax to the sealson's minsical activities.
FOR SOAIE reason, the tour had to be abandoned, and as a sub-
stitute the board decided to hold a May Festival. So they hired for the
occasion the "Boston Festival Orchestra," under the baton of Emil
Mollenhauer.
Besides the orchestra, they decided to invite the Choral Union
to appear at the festival. This group had been founded in 1879,
when singers from four local church choirs handed together to
sing choruses from Handel's "Messiah ."
The announcement of the festival was received with great en-
thusiasm. Music-lovers came from all over the contry to witness the
spectacle.
RAILROADS ran special trains from the East and West, but few
of the people they carried had bothered to buy tickets in advance.
Consequently, old University Hall, where the festival was held,
was packed to capacity. People jammed the aisles, stood outside in
the corridors just to hear the music.
When the final concert ended on Saturday night, thousands of
out-of-towners hurried to the railroad station to board their special
trains. But through necessity, the trains had been parked on a siding
in Detroit, and they failed to arrive in Ann Arbor at the close of the
concert.
WELL, IN THOSE days there were no restaurants and only a few
stores in the campus area. A rainstorm was in progress, and wet, hun-
gry people waited for hours for their trains.
Despite the hardships encountered at the first May Festival
the Board of Directors of the University Musical Society were most
optimistic, and the May Festival became a permanent institution
at the University.
LONG SERVICE:
Three Orchestras Perform
For Fifty-Five Past FestivalsI
T anny.Williams
ro Be 1Soloist
Welsh Siniger SarS
li'(,Ioria' I relliert''
Along with her rich contralto
voice, Tann Williams will bring
a notable record of recital and
oratorio success to Ann' Arbor
when she appears in the Sunday
afternoon concert of the May Fes-
tival Series.
Miss Williams will appear as aI
soloist in the world premiere of
Llwelyn Gomer's choral massj
"Gloria in Excelsis," which ithe'
Festival is offering this year.
BORN IN Wales, Miss Williams
studied at the University College
in Cardiff, and then won a schol-
arship to the Guildhall School of
Music in London. Her efforts
there netted her the Guildhall
Gold Medal, an honor never be-
fore won by a Welsh girl.
After a rapid rise in British
musical circles, Miss Williams
appeared in "The Messiah" and
Elijah" under the distinguished
conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent.
For ten years she sang on BBC
radio programs.
During the war British troops
stationed in posts scattered
throughout Africa and the near
east were entertained by Miss
Williamsrin a concert tour which
took her to Kenya, Jerusalem,
Cairo, Durban, and the Sudan.
BESIDES being a veritable
globetrotter, the Welsh contralto
has entertained Royalty on two
occasions. She was featured in a
concert honoring the Silver Jubi-
lee of the reign of the late King
George V, and in 1937 she helped
launch the reign of the incumbent
British monarch by singing at the
coronation celebration.
Miss Williams paid her first
visit to America in 1939, and re-
turned in mid-1947. Since her
return, she has sung solo roles in
"The Messiah" in New York,
Cleveland and Salt Lake City. In
addition, she has won praise for
her renditions of the works of
Bach, Brahms, Saint-Saens and
Schumann.
A fOuncCHmcits
May Festival announcements
are available now at the offices of
the University Musical Society in
Burton Tower.
The announcements contain
pictures of all performers and
conductors, the complete programs
for all six concerts, a historical
sketch of the May Festival and
biographical sketches of all May
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Tn spite of bu7z-bombs, Benno ances there on behalf of various
Moiseiwitsch played more than 800 Iwar earities.
recital and orchestral conce ts inKd
the Britih Islst dutf ingWorld I more than a thousand concert
War II. prformances - won for Moisei-
The Russian-horn pianist, wvho witsch one of Great Britain's
highest honors the Order of
Commander of the British Empire.
In addition to yearly concert
tours of Europe, Moiseiwitsch
has globe-trotted to give con-
certs throughout the world in
such widely scattered spots as
New Zealand, South America
and Java.
The performance of twenty dif-
ferent piano concertos during the
course of a single season is com-
Smonplace in the career of Moise-
iwitsch.
* * -,
IE HAS SERVED as guest solo-
ist with nearly every great sym-
phony orchestra in the world to-
day, under nearly every eminent
conductor.
Ie is particularly proud of
the concerts Arturo Toseanini
invited him to give with the
BENNO MOISEIWITSCII Palestine Symphony shortly be-
fore the outbreak of the War.
will play Beethoven's Concerto No. Moiseiwitsch, who began a con-
3 for Piano and Orchestra in the cert tour of America the first of
Friday evening May Festival Con- this year, will make his first local
cert, made innumerable appear- appearance in the May Festival.
Thousand-Concert War
iteco( I hIby',IPianisit
RNNO MOISElWITSCIH:
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Erica Morini, who played for
the Austrian emperor at Cight
years of age, will play the Con-
certo in D minor for Violin and
Orchestra by Wienawski here.
Miss Morini will perform under
the baton of Alexander Hillsberg
in the Saturday afternoon con-
cert of the May Festival.
* * *
MISS MORINI'S playing has
so hypnotized critics that they no
longer refer to her as "a great
violinist, although she's a woman,'
but simply as "a great violinist.'
To the talented musician, this is
a high tribute, as she thinks the
sex of an artist is immaterial to
his performance.
Reviews praising her playing
clipped from papers all over the
world pack Miss Morini's scrap-
book. In addition to concerts in
America, Europe, Australia and
the Orient, Miss Morini has
gained distinction by her many
fine recordings and radio ap-
pearances.
The young Erica was made to
practice long hours as a child, and
liked it no better than any other
youngster. An early ambition of
hers was to be a ballerina, and she
l is still fond of dancing.
r hER FAVORITE recreation is
dancing with her jeweler husband,
Felice Siracusano, at New York
night spots.
While in Europe Miss Morini
sperformed before royalty many
times. Life wuas glamorous, but
difficult,. too, for the voung vio-
linist.
Devotion to her art compelled
her to forego many of the plea-
sures of young girls, but she ad-
mits now that time spent in prac-
tieing was most necessary.
AS TO THE status of women
in art, Miss Morini says, "There
are just as many women born with
great talents for music as men.
But most women haven't the sin-
gleminded drive and determination
it takes to be a grea artist.
They're interested in too many
other things. They won't make
i the sacrifice."
Met Ba ritole Si ughe r Dropped
Teaching f or Career in Opera
The teaching profession lost a Amsterdam in the same ver
From the beginning of the May
Festival in 1894 the University
Choral Union and the Festival
Youth Chorus have been associat-
ed with three great orchestras.
For eleven years, the Boston
Festival O'chestra under the dir-
ection of Emil Mollenhauer, made
annual pilgrimages to the Uni-
versity. In 1905 this organization
discontinued its tours and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra with
Frederick Stock, conductor, was
engaged. This group continued to
participate in the concerts for
thirty-one years.
THE PHilADELP1IA Orches-
tra under the baton of Leopold
Stokowski took over the concerts.
In the following year Eugene Or-
mandy became conductor and un-
der his direction this orchestra
has participated continuously.
Through the 55 -years of May
Festival performances, audien-
ces have heard practically all
of the major choral works, many
of the smaller works, and large
numbers of the operas that have
been adapted to concert per-
formance.
The world's great symphonies
and other orchestral numbers
have been played; and distin-
guished artists, both vocal and
instrumental, have participated
not only in the choral works but,
in miscellaneous, so that concerti
and other instrumental works
have been included in the Festival.
Operatic arias and songs have
also been performed by the most
outstanding artists.
promising French professor when
Martial.Singher decided to make
music his career.
Singher, Metropolitan baritone
star who will solo with the Choral
Union in the Friday evening and
Sunday afternoon May Festival
concerts, didn't start singing pro-
fessionally until he was 22.
BORN IN THE Basque country
in the south of France, he studied
to become a professor of modern
French literature. Two friends,
prominent French statesmen, per-
suaded the young student to make
singing his life work.
Always a music lover, Singher
had never aspired to become
nore than. a good amateur. his
family favored the shift to mu-
sic, however, and he entered the
Paris Conservatory.
In 1930, he graduated from the
Conservatory with the highest
honors and made his debut in
From 1930 to 1941, he was the
leading baritone of the Paris
Grand Opera and starred at the
famous Teatro Colon in Buenos
Aires, establishing an outstanding
success in the concert field in
South America.
* * *
SINGIiER MADE a widely ac-
claimed Metropolitan Opera debut
as Pelleas in Debussy's "Pelleas et
Melisande" in 1944, and followved
his success two days later with a
recital in New York's 'own Hall.
Since then, in addition to reg-
ular appearances at the Met,
Singher has made numerous
coast to coast tours, singing
more than 400 engagements in
four seasons.
Singher has appeared as guest
soloist with the leading orchestras
of the country, including the Chi-
(ago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia,
I Baltimore and New York Philhar-
moni Symphonies.
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rITY
3iXTH'
rN NUAL
M i A\(
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'III I~~l 1A1)ELPH1A' OUCHyt E1I'U iWILLE PAlil.C'A1TI 'IN Ali CO+NC'EU~TS
K Thursday, May 5, 8.3 q
EUGENE ORMANDY, Cod'u /r,
Soloist:
SET SVANHOLM, Tenor
Compositions of Richard 'Wagner
Prelude to "Parsifal"
"Gralserzablung" from "Lohengrin"
Rome Narrative from "Tannhauser"
SET SvANIHOL[M
' Alberich's Invocation from "bas
Rheingold"
Entrance of the Gods from "Das
Rheingold"
INTERMISSION
Siegfried's Funeral Music from Gotter-
dammerung'
Siegmund's Monologue from "Die
Walku re"
"Wintersturme" from "Die \Valkure"
Forging Song from "Siegfried"
MR. SvANHOLM
Excerpts from "Die Meistersinger":
Prelude to Act III
Dance of the Apprentices
Entrance of the Masters
Columbia Records
Friday, May 6, 8:30
Saturday, May 7, 2:30
Saturday, May 7, 8:30
Sunday, May 8, 2:30
Sunday, May 8, 8:30
THOR ;JOHNSON, Condu c/or
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
Soloists:
SIH1IRLEY RUSSELL, Soln'ano
MARTIAL SINGHER, Bari/one
BENNO MOISElWITSCH, Pianist
Program
Overture to "Prometheus". .BEETHOVEN
Concerto No. 3 for Piano and
Orchestra ...........BE ETvrovEmTN
Allegro con biro
Largo
Allegro
IBENNO MOISE]WITSCHI .
INTERMISSION
Requiem.................BRAHMS
Blessed Are They That Mourn
Behold, All Flesh is as the Grass
How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place
Ye That Now are Sorrowful
Here on Earth We have No Continuing
CHORAL UNION AND SOLOIsTS
ALEXANDER HILSBERG and
MARGUERITE HOOD, Conductors
FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS
Soloist:
ERICA MORINF, Violinist
Program
Overture to "The Bartered
Bride".................SMETANA
Lieder Cycle-Orchestrated by
Dorothy James
YOUTH CHORUS
Symphony No. 40 in G minor..MOZART
Allegro moderato
Andant
Menuetto; Trio
Finale: Allegro assai
INTERMISSION
Concerto in D minor for Violin and
Orchestra . ... . . .WINIAWSKI
Allegro moderato
Romanze
Allegro moderato (a la zingara)
ERicA MORINI
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conducfor
Soloist:
GLADYS SWARTHOUT
Alez o-Soprano
Program
Theme and Variations,
Op. 43b ..............SCHONBERG
"Ah, Spietato" from "Amadigi" HANDEL
"Art thou troubled" from
"Rodelinda"............ ....HANDEL
"Per lui che adoro" from "L'Italiana
in Alfieri"................ROsSINI
GLADYS SWARTHOUT
Symphony, "Mathis der
Maler" ........... . . 1.HINDEMITI f
THOR JOHNSON, Condu c/or
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
Soloists:
SHIRLEY RUSSEL, Sopriano
TANN WILLIAMS, Contrallo
HAROLD HAUGH, Tenor
MARTIAL SINGHER, Bari/one
GREGOR PIATIGORSK Y,
Violoncellist
Program
Concerto in B minor for Violoncello
and Orchestra ...........DvORAx&
Allegro
Adagio ma non troppo
Finale: allegro moderato
GREGOR PIATIGORSKY
"IMFGENE .EORMANDY, Conductor
Soloist:
NA TASSINARI, Sofrano
Program
Adagio for Strings .........BARBER
"0 del mio dolce ardor" from
"Paride ed Elena" ..........GTucK
"Deh vieni" from "Nozze di
Figaro" . ..... . . . ... .....MOZART
"Stizzoso, o mio stizzoso" from "La
Serva Padrona" .......... . PERGOLESI
PJA TASSINARI
INTERMISSION
"Voi lo sapete" from "Cavalleria
Rusticana"..............MASCAGNI
laltra notte" from
"Mefistofele"......... . . . .BOTO
INTER MISSION
I NTICRtMI1SSION
E se un giorno tornasse.... .
RFsPcm u
Ba lero
Malurous qu'o uno fennoI-ANTELOUBE
Brezairola
El Vito .................. .OBRADORS
MISS SwARTHOUT
Choros No. 10, "Rasga O
Coracao" .............VIIL._A-IoBOs
CHORAL UNION
Gloria in Excelsis (world
premiere).....LI..YWFLYN GOMEa
CHORAL UNION AND SOLOISTS
MARY MCCAL.I SlullmNS, OraJmnist
Prinavera
Mi5S FA SSIN-ARI
Symphony No. 4 in F
minor . . . . . .. . TcHAKOVSKY
Victor Records
W \altzes from "Der
Rosenkavalier"...........
.STRAUSS
The Steinway is the official piano of the Philadelphia Orchestra and of the University Musical Society.
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fFESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
CHORAL WORKS
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS (Gomer) -World Premiere
CHOROS No. 10 (Villa-Lobos) -First Festival Performance
REQUIEM (Brahms i-Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra
LIEDER CYCLE (Orchestrated by Dorothy Jomes)
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THREE CONCERTI
BEETHOVEN No. 3 for Piano--First Festival Performance
WIENIAWSKI, D minor foi Violin-fir-if Fe'tivl P rforn c e
DVORAK, B minor ior Violoncello
THREE SYMPHONIES
MOZART Svmphony No. 4O in G minor (K 550) I
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