THE MICHIGAN DAILY
S UND~AY, OCO4BER
'ITFALLS A-PLENTY:
Page-Turner Discloses
His Precarious Position
Song Fest To Be Given
By Viennese Choir Bovs
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Ed Troupin turned
pages last season for eiitz and Neveu
and here recounts his impressions of
his experience.)
By ED TROUPIN
The page-turner's prime requi-
chestra, appearing under Thor
Johnson in the regular Choral Un-
ion Series next January, is widely
knTei as one of te six top sym-
phonies in the country.
This is the third season the mu-
sicians are under the direction of
Thor Johnson, young American
conductor who formerly taughit at
the Universiit.HTe has been ap-
pearing as guest conductor of the
Ann Arbor May Festival since
World War H.
- *
THE CINCINNATI Orchestra
was organized in 1895, in response
to deands from residents of the
city for a permanent orchestra
there. Frank varl der Stucken was
chosen as the first conductor.
Leopold Stokowski began his
orchestral conducting career as
Cincinnati's second conductor.
After three seasons, he left to
become conductor of the Phila-
delphia Orchestra.
Dr. Ernst Kunwald, Eugene
Ysaye, Fritz Reiner and Eugene
Goosens followed Stokowski in the
position of director.
** *
JOHNSON took over the job of
musical director of the Cincinnati
Symphony after Eugene Goosens
became ill in 1946. He has in-
creased the popularity of the
young people's concerts in his
adopted city and has appeared as
conductor in several out-of-town
concerts.
He will return to Ann Arbor
again this winter as conductor of
one of the nation's foremost sym-
phony orchestras.
sites are presence of mind under
the strain of performance and the
ability to read music accurately at
a distance of several feet-for he
must not sit so close to the ac-
companist that they pass the eve-
ning rubbing elbows.
He is usually a music school
student studying the specialty of
the evening's soloist, and is picked
by the University Musical Society
for the job.
* * *
I-E MUST BE part psychologist,E
for the various accompanists rare-
ly state that the page must be
flipped over at some well specified
point-and there is nothing so
icy as the glare of the pianist (who
has to take a back seat anyway)
when the fellow he meets some
fifteen minutes before acperform-
ance causes musical chaos by
turning: too early, too late, two
pages at once; or even worse, un-
ceremoniously dumping Brahms
in his lap through vehemence or
overconfident eagerness.
In addition, he must remem-
ber not to race onto the stage--
beating the artists by one fiddle-
length--and not to bow politely
for his part of the evening's en-
tertainment. He is also often
supplied with music tattered
nearly to illegibility, frequently
mending-tape bound and conse-
quently refusing to remain open
at the proper place-swinging
tantalizingly as the difficult anad
dangerous climax is reached.
But his recompense is corres-
pondingly great, with the closest
seat for the concert, and with a
point of view of the performer's
work thatvthe audience out front
cannot match.
Board Members
The Board of Directors of the
University Musical Society in-
cludes Charles A. Sink, president;
Alexander G. Ruthven, vice-presi-
dent; Shirley W. Smith, secretary;
Oscar A. Eberbach, treasurer; Ros-
coe O. Bonisteel, assistant secre-
tary - treasurer; Thor Johnson,
James R. Breakey, Jr., Harley A.
Haynes, James Inglis, E. Blythe
Stason, Henry F. Vaughan and
Merlin Wiley.
CHOIR BOYS -- Two of the
choir boys from the Vienna
Choir appearing here October
15, practice singing by candle-
light.
New Zealand
Bass To Sing
MessiahRole.
Oscar Natzka, New Zealand bass,
will give his first Ann Arbor per-
formance in the annual presenta-'
tion of Handel's Messiah Decem-
ber 10 and 11 in Hill Auditorium.
Natzka, whose American opera-
tic debut with the New York City
Opera Company last spring was
heralded by the critics, received
his early musical education at the
Trinity College of Music in Lon-
don where he studied under Al-
bert Garcia, grandson of Manuel
Garcia, who had taught Jenny
Lind.
From Garcia's studio, Natzka
went directly to Convent Garden
where he began a long series of
leading roles including "Rigo-
letto," "Faust" and Die Meister-
singers" under the baton of Sir
By JANET WATTS
The world touring Vienna Choir
Boys will make their second local
appearance in a concert of sacred
music, folk songs end av coo;same
operetta October 15 in Iill Audi-
torium.
The 450 year old choir dates
from the time of Hapsburg Em-
peror Maximilian I who estab-
lished the group by imperial de-
cree to sing daily masses -in the
Court Chapel.
* * *
THOUGH THE choir's fame had
spread through Europe. the boys
did not appear in Lhe United
States until the twentieth century
when impresario S. Hurok spen-
sor-ed their first American tour in
1932. The following year the group
thrilled an Ann Arbor audience
with its concert at Hill.
Young Austrian boys ennsider
it a high honor to be members
of Vienna Boys Choir and thou-
sands Flock to the Imperial Pal-
a c ,ach year to compete for po-
E,4tions. rat only about 1010 are
selected to take the two years'
training preliminary to joining
the choir.
About twenty boys, aged seven
to twelve, ae on the current tour
the group's eighth in this country
After the initial tour in 1932, the
choir made six consecutive treks
around the country before the war
caused a suspension of the choir's
activities.
-*- *
WITH THE TEND of hostilities
the Choir was reorganized and
last year they returned to the
United States for their first post.
war tour of 110 cities.
A boy's career in the choir
may be brief, for as soon as his
voice changes, he receives "mus-
tering out pay" and fare home.
lBut he is not forgotten since
he may attend an ecclesiastical
state boarding school if he
Iwishes to study.
Extra Series
Will Present
Sp1vakovsky
Violinist Plays No
Music for Effect
Tossy Spivakovsky, Russian-
born violinist appearing here No-
vember 22 on the Extra Concert
Series, is a virtuoso who doesn't
believe in playing music for the
sake of "mere effect."
"Audiences love to be bowled
over, and I'm all for it," Spiva-
* kovsky remarks, "but I believe in
an artist's doing much more. A
concert has to be a cultural ex-
perience. If there isn't enough sub-
stance to move people, then all the
pyrotechnics in the world couldn't
be sufficient compensation."
SPIVAKOVSKY holds to this
view apparently despite his c-rit-
ical acclaim as "the greatest violin
virtuoso to come up in a decade."
Invited by Artur Rodzinski to
play the premiere performance
of the Bela Bartok Violin Con-
certo in New York, Spivakovski
became an overnight success,
and his fiddling was described
by Virgil Thompson as "unfor-
gettable . . . his performance,
both technically and musically
left one a little gasping."
When he later played the same
work with the San Francisco Sym-
phony under Pierre Monteux, the
r orchestra's manager exclaimed,
"This is the most exciting thing
that's happened since the opera
house was built!"
Since his arrival in the United
States in 1941, Spivakovsky has
played his Stradivarius violin un-
- der many renowned conductors,
including two Choral Union con-
cert conductors, George Szell and
EIGHTY YEARS OLD:
Messiah Prompts Choral Union Start
It all started with the Messiah. Music is a vocation with some,
About 80 years ago, a group ofa
Ann Arbor church choir singers adahbywt tes u hy
convened to sing parts of Handel's are all fine musicians, Conductor
traditional Christmas oratorio. Lester McCoy declared.
* * * * *
AND IT WAS from this small ABOUT ONE THIRD of our
group that Choral Union, and singers leave each year, but we
eventually May Festival and the are always swamped with appli-
entire concert series came into ex- cants to take their places," he
istance. said.
Choral Union has grown from
this small beginning into a According to Norma Heyde,
group of more than 300- sing- graduate student, one of the
ers, including students, faculty greatest rewards of being a
members, and townspeople. member of choral union is
_____. _._.___ __ ._.___._ _ . -__ _ _ ___ , - ._- __. ___ _____y
UN I V E R S I T Y
MUSI
CAL
S OC I
mingling with and watching re-
hearsals and singing with the
Philadelphia Symphony orches-
tra. She states that the experi-
ence and knowledge gained of
rehearsal and performance tech-
nique is invaluable - especially
the conductor's methods.
In addition to the annual pre-
sentation of Messiah, the choral
union has presented almost every
major choral work as well as many
minor works and original pieces
at the May Festival since 1894.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF
CONCERTS FOR 1949-1950
E T Y
11
ARTUR RUBINSTEIN, Pianist .............. ..
NELSON EDDY, Baritone.........................
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR ...........................
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
Charles Munch, Conductor .....................
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
Charles Munch, Conductor ....................
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA, George Szell, Conductor...
ITALO TAJO, Bass ............................ .
TOSSY SPIVAKOVSKY, Violinist ..................
. October 4
. . October 9
.October 15
October 23
......October 25
.... November 6
.... November 16
.... November 22
The alumni group of the, choir
is a highly respected organization
Thomas Beecham. which includes some of the world's
The famed bass served in the most famous composers. Schubert,
Canadian Navy for six years and Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt
also made a 20-concert tour of the and Bruckner each at one time
Union of South Africa before com- sang in the world's best known
ing to the United States to sing. boy's choral group.
WESSIAH
SATURDAY, DECEMBE
CONCE RTS
Rl . . . 8:30 P.M.
Fritz Reiner. Last season he
opened the National Symphony
season in Washington, D.C., with
President Truman in the audi-
ence.
Francescatti
To Play Here
Zino Francescatti known as one
of the world's greatest violinists,
whose art has highlighted the
American scene for almost a dec-
ade will come to Ann Arbor on
March 20 as part of the Choral
Union Concert series.
Born in Marseilles in 1905, Fran-
cescatti was taught to play the
violin by his parents. His father
had studied the violin with Er-
neste Sivori, the only direct pupil
of Paganini, and Francescatti thus
inherited the Paganini tradition.
He made his first public ap-
pearance when only five years old
and at twenty Francescatti made
his formal debut in Europe with
one of France'sdistinguished or-
chestras.
The following year he accom-
panied Maurice Ravel and Maggie
Teyte on concert tours of Eng-
land, and in 1938 he made a con-
cert tour of South America.
Francescatti made his debut in
the United States in 1939 with the
New York Philharmonic-Sym-
phony, appropriately playing the
Paganini D Major Concerto, using
the original edition.
RISE STEVENS, Mezzo-Soprano .........................December 5
"MESSIAH" (Handel) ..............................December 10
"MESSIAH" (Handel) ................................December 11
CARROLL GLENN, Violinist, and EUGENE LIST, Pianist ...... January 6
BUDAPEST STRING QUARTET (first concert) ..............January 13
BUDAPEST STRING QUARTET (2nd concert)..............January 14
BUDAPEST STRING QUARTET (3rd concert).............January 15
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
Thor Johnson, Conductor ...........................January 17
MYRA HESS, Pianist ..................................February 17
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
Paul Paray, Conductor .... .................... .....February 23
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
Fritz Reiner, Guest Conductor......................... March 12
ZINO FRANCESCATTI, Violinist..........................March 20
FIRST MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT............................May 4
SECOND MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT..........................May 5
THIRD MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT ..........................May 6
FOURTH MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT..........................May 6
FIFTH MAY FESTIVAL CONCERT........................... May 7
SIXTH MAY FESTIVAL CON+CEPRT........................... May 7
SUNDAY,
DECEMBER 11
2:30 P.M.
.w .
SOLOISTS
A R S L
O NGA V I
TA
B R E
V
1
S
CHLOE OWEN, Soprano
ANNA
KASKAS, Contralto
*
DAVID LLOYD, Tenor
OSCAR
NATZKA, Bass
UNIVERSITY
CHORAL UNION
SPECIAL ORCHESTRA
I
MARY STUBBINS, Organist
LESTER McCOY, Conductor
TICKETS
(Tax Included)
EITHER CONCERT
70e or 50e
NOW ON SALE
Budapest sting quarte
in the tenth annual
chamber music festival
The Budapest String Quartet will give three concerts
for the Tenth Annual Chamber Music Festival -
Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday after-
noon, Jan. 13, 14, and 15. The three programs will
include major quartets and other ensemble numbers.
JOSEF ROISMANN, Violin
JAC GORODETSKY, Violin
BORIS KROYT, Viola
MISCHA SCHNEIDER, Violoncello
LESTER McCCO
OSCAR NATZKA
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)AY, 2:30 P.M. 0
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and $2.40 -
ALE NOW! :;
I
Y1
THREE CONCERTS
in RACKHAM
AUDITORlUN'
FRIDAY, 8:30 P.M.-SATURDAY, 8:30 P.M.-SUI
A
N D
00
SA
JANUARY 13, 14,
15, 1950
TICKETS:
(tax included)
THREE CONCERTS $3.
it
SINGLE CONCERTS - $1.80 and $1.20... ON
I