41
2, 1949
{ THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE
TH IHGA &T
PAGE
MUSICAL PACESETTERS:
Gifted Duo Reaps Worldwide Honors
* * *
* * *
By FRAN WVICK
The team of violinist Carroll
Glenn and pianist Eugene List, to
appear here in January, sets a
startling precedent in musical mo-
nopolies.
For the gifted Miss Glenn and
the brilliant Mr. List are a hus-
band-wife team which has won,
collectively, a lion's share of the
young genius in American music
circles.
Before their marriage in 1943,
when List was an Army sergeant,
the two had been separately re-
garded as the outstanding young
artists of the country.
w * * *
THE LISTS merged their talents
for the Prague Music Festival in
1946, and played separately and
in joint recital to acclaim in the
major European cities. Returning
to the United States, they con-
tinued their stellar career in New
Yonk and Philadelphia.
Mr. and Mrs. List have recently
played on separate tours,rgetting
together occasionally for the
violin-piano concerts so eagerly
awaitedt by American audiences.
Both Miss Glenn and Mr. List
are American born and bred,
Carroll first seeing the light of
day in South Carolina, where
her mother gave her a $3.80
'Sears Model Stradivarius violin'
before she was four years old.
But the young violinist took it
seriously, and her mother, seeing
evidence of talent, sent her to the
University of South Carolina to
take lessons from experts. In the
meantime, Miss Glenn lived a nor-
mal life, and continued to do so
after she became the youngest stu-
MUSICAL PAIR-Eugene List (left), pianist, and his wife, Carroll
Glenn (right), piolinist, will appear here together in January.
* ** *
dent at Juilliard at the age of
eleven.
MISS GLENN bec me the only
musician to win all four, of the
major prizes offered in open com-
petition to promising musicians in
Amerca: the Naumburg Founda-
tion, the Town Hall Endowment,
the National Federation of Music
Clubs, and the Schubert Memorial
awards.
While Miss Glenn was garner-
ing all these honors, she not
only won the admiration of
music critics, but attracted and
held the eye of the rising pianist
List, who had started his career
out in California.
By the time they met, List .had
performed so brilliantly that he
was given the signal honor of per-
forming a new concerto by Shos-
Contralto Anna Kaskas To Be
Featured Soloist in Messiah
takovich in its American premiere.
This he did in concert with Sto-
kowski's Philadelphia Orchestra
at the ripe old age of sixteen.
* * *
PRIOR TO THAT, his career
had been one of a child prodigy,
and the performance was only
further proof of his genius and
fine musicianship.
When List enlisted in the army
in 1942, it was thought his ca-
reer would be interrupted. But
the Army transferred him to
duty in which he could do the
most good-Special Services-
and he soon found himself per-
forming before GI's all over Eu-
rope, on a piano mounted on a
jeep.
Little did he foresee then that
his stint in the Army would be
climaxed, in 1946, by his appear-
ance at the Potsdam Conference
before the Big Three-President
Truman, Prime Minister Church-
ill, and Joe Stalin.
* * *
HIS BRILLIANT performance
is credited as being the ice-break-
er between the three heads of
state. His playing was received so
enthusiastically, that he staged
four repeat concerts, playing a
variety of works ranging from
Tschaikowsky to the President's
beloved Missouri Waltz. And as
his page-turner, he had none
other than Mr. Truman himself.
- With the end of the war, Miss
Glenn and Mr. List took up where
they had left off, and began their
joint concerts all over the world.
Miss Glenn declares they al-
ways look forward to their joint
concerts and dream of "a home
in the country with an orchard
and a garden and time to work
and grow musically."
George Szell
Will Conduct
Here Nov. 6
Cleveland Group
Will Play at Hill
The Cleveland Symphony, one
of the few orchestras in the coun-
try to get its own concert hall,
will appear here Nov. 6 in the
Choral Union Concert Series.
Under the baton of George Szell,
the orchestra provides audiences
throughout the country with 30
weeks of winter concerts and 12
weeks of summer concerts. In ad-
dition to numerous concerts per-
formed in Cleveland and the rest
of the state, the orchestra has
played from Canada to Cuba, and
from New York to Kansas City.
COLLEGE and university stu-
dents number among the most en-
thusiastic of the Cleveland Sym-
phony's audiences. The orchestra
presents an annual series of con-
certs at Oberlin College, Ohio, and
also visits other colleges during its
four week touring season.
Students have accorded the
orchestra a warm reception on
its numerous appearances at the
University.
Termed "one of the finest ex-
pressive mediums of its kind" by
the New York Herald Tribune, the
orchestra is known to millions of
listeners throughout the world for
its fine recordings.
The orchestra is especially noted
for its interpretations of the music
of Richard Strauss and Tschai-
kowsky.
* * *
IN ADDITION to regular con-
certs, the symphony presents a
series of 30 children's concerts
yearly. Arranged in conjunction
with Cleveland public schools, the
concerts serve as an important
supplement to classroom music
studies.
Since 1941, the orchestra has
played weekly broadcasts
beamed to five continents. Dur-
ing the war, the broadcasts were
also heard by troops in the Pa-
cific war theatre.
Szell, the fourth conductor to
wield the Cleveland Symphony ba-
ton, has been with the Orchestra
since 1946. In line with his policy
of development and expansion, he
has enlarged the orchestra to 100
members.
'Stage-Door Johnny' at Hill
Assists Artists, Students 10
By MARY STEIN
Acting as "Stage-Door Johnny" is part of John Wagner's full-
time job.
He is the man who swings open the door leading backstage
when Choral Union artists make their exits at intermission or con-
cert's end. All that most concert-goers ever see of Wagner is part
of his face as he peeps out from a small window in the door.
* * * *
ONCE IN A WHILE, however, Wagner, custodian of the audi-
torium, makes an on-stage appearance. That is when he is called
on to raise or lower the top of a grand piano during a performance.
He confessed that he is not overly-fond of that task. "When-
ever I come on stage, the music students in the audience all start
clapping their hands, and then the rest of the audience follows
suit.,"
Hundreds of the students know him simply as "Johnny." They
say he is always willing to take time out from his duties as custodian
to supply them with chairs or other equipment for practice sessions.
WHEN HE ISN'T opening doors during the concerts, Wagner
keeps busy. For instance, he must keep a check on the temperaturg
of the auditorium. From its proper level of 68 or 70 degrees, the
temperature often rises several degrees and Wagner has to bring
it down again.
After performances, he posts men at the back exits to keep,
audiences, including autograph-seekers, from stampeding mu-
sicians.
In his work backstage, Wagner has gained insight into the tem-
peramental peculiarities of the concert artists who make Choral
Union appearances.
* * * *
WAGNER RECALLS that two or three seasons ago pianist.Vlad-
imir Horowitz displayed the worst case of pre-concert jitters he has
seen-an attack of nerves that included much floor-pacing and brow-
mopping.
How does Wagner like his steady diet of classical music during
concert season? "It's fine, but I also like smooth popular music-
the kind that Sammy Kaye and Guy Lombardo make."
SHORT'NIN' BREAD MAN:
Nelson Eddy To Introduce
Second Series of Concerts
* * *
SULTRY 'CARMEN':
Lucky Red Shoes Bring
Rise Stevens Renown
Metropolitan.
Opera Star
To Sing Here
Tajo Called "New
Bass of Century"
Italo Tajo, Italy's latest bass-
baritone entry into the Metropoli-
tan Opera fold, will appear here
November 16, at Hill Auditorium.
Termed "the new bass of the
century" in Los Angeles, this six-
foot, two-inch opera star comes to
Ann Arbor with an armful of
critics' superlatives and rosy pre-
dictions.
* * *
LESS THAN A year ago, Tajo
(pronounced Tah-yo) made his
debut with the San Francisco
Opera as Basilio in "The Barber
of Seville." Last January the basso
sang Figaro with the Metropolitan
Opera. Within a few months of
his first American season, Italo
Tajo was being hailed as an opera
singer, actor, and recitalist of the
first order.
Actually, Tajo is not new to
music lovers of the United
States, for he has appeared in
three Italian Opera - Movies:
"The Barber of Seville," "Lucia,"
and "L'Elisir d'Amore."
Fifth in the Choral Union se-
ries, Tajo will bring an operatic
repertoire of over fifty principal
roles, comic, tragic, romantic, and
dramatic. His symphonic book in-
cludes works by Verdi, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini.
RISE STEVENS
It was more than just a case
of good luck, but Rise Stevens
attributes her success in the role
of "Carmen' 'to a pair of red
shoes.
The charming, red headed Miss
Stevens first wore the shoes when
she sang the role of Carmen at'!
the PragueOpera House in 1937.
Since that time she has come to be
recognized as the leading inter-
preter of Bizet's sultry gypsy. And
in every performance she has worn
those red shoes as part of her cus-
tume.
BUT IT TOOK more than a
good luck charm to make Rise
Stevens the opera star she is to-
day. It took years of study and
hard work which began when she
was ten.
At that time she made her de-
but as a singer on the 'Sunday
Morning Children's Hour" pro-
ducted by Milton Cross. Later
appearances as a leading lady of
the opera at the Heckscher The-
ater in New York brought offers
from both Hollywood and the
Metropolitan Opera Company.
But she turned both down to
continue her studies in Europe.
With Mme. Gutheil-Schoder in
Salzburg, she studied her most
celebrated roles-Carmen, and Oc-
tavian in "Der Rosenkavalier." The
young star could have had no
better mentor, for Mie. Gutheil-
Schoder was herself the original
Rosenkavalier and the greatest
Carmen of her time.
AFTER SUCCESSES in Vienna,
Egypt and South America, Rise
came back to the United States to
appear in opera productions".in
San Francisco, Cincinnati and
Chicago. In 1945-46 Miss Stevens
played "Carmen" for the first
time at the Metropolitan where
she scored the greatest success of
her career.
It was this appearance that
marked her as the finest living
"Carmen." Her enthusiasm for
the role carries over from the
opera stage into concert work
and recordings. Miss Stevens
has recorded an album called
"Carmen Excerpts" which is
one of the best selling opera al-
bums.
Although Rise is of Norwegian
background, she still finds that
the delightful Spanish cigarette
girl is her most satisfying role. "It
is mature, passionate, intense," she
says.
Miss Stevens appears here De-
cember 5 in Hill Auditorium.
I
"? I
Although Messiah soloist Anna
Kaskas is a native born American,
her first big operatic break came
in Lithuania.
Born in Connecticut, the blond
singer started her musical studies
in Hartford conservatory.
She displayed so much talent
there that a prominent music
lover in Hartford paid her ex-
penses for a trip to Lithuania, the
birthplace of her parents.
At Kaunas, Lithuania's capital,
Miss Kaskas made her operatic
debut as Ulrica in Verdi's "Masked
Ball."
* * *
THE PRESIDENT of Lithaunia
happened to hear her performance
that night, and was so favorably
impressed that he and Miss Kas-
kas soon became personal friends.
Through the President'; in-
flv rce. the Lithuania govern
ment later gave her financial
assistance to go to Milan, Itaiy,
for further study.
Miss Kaskas returned to Amer-
ica shortly after completing her
studies in Europe, and in 1936 en-
tered the Metropolitan Opera Con-
test. She was one of the two ,uc-
cessful contestants from a group
of seven hundred, winning 3 roles
in the Metropolitan's spring pro-
ductions and a contract with the
group.
Nelson Eddy, noted American
baritone, will open the University
Musical Society's extra concert se-
ries with a recital here October 9.
An immensely popular singer on
the stage, screen and radio, Eddy
has displayed a unique versatility
in his quarter-century on the
American musical scene.
* * *
HIS OPERATIC repertory num-
bers 28 roles and he has starred
in 15 major films since first going
to Hollywood in 1933.
An example of his ver-
satility is his feat of singing all
three parts of an operatic trio,
performed while playing the
part of a singing whale in the
Walt Disney fantasy, "Make
Mine Music,"
Record collectors can also en-
joy the multiple-voiced Eddy in
an album of quartets in which he
sings all four parts.
* * *
CRITICS have been particularly
warm in their praise of his clear
singing diction and this has be-
come an Eddy trademark..
Eddy made his first major
vocal appearance in a leading
role in "Aida" and was an in-
stant success. He went on to
perform a wide range of roles
with Philadelphia opera com-
panies and in 1924, made his
professional grand opera debut
in "Pagliacci,"" at the Metro-
politan Opera House.
Eddy counts among his hobbies,
painting, sculpturing and collect-
ing recipes for short'nin' bread
which his many admirers sent
him.
..
...____
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19ut Jnnual SNORT EXTRA SERIES 1949.
NELSON EDDY, Baritone . . . . . . . . . . Sunday, October 9
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
CHARLES MUNCH, Conductor . . . . . . Tuesday, October 25
TOSSY SPIVAKOVSKY, Violinist . . . . . . Tuesday, November 22
CARROLL GLENN, Violinist, and
EUGENE LIST, Pianist an . . . . . . . . Friday, January 6
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
FRITZ REINER, Guest Conductor . . . . . . Sunday, March 12
CHARLES MUNCH TICKET PRICES -TAX INCLUDED NEL
Five Concerts - A Great Saving Is Made By Purchasing Season Tickets
SEASON TICKETS SINGLE CONCERTS
Block A-$8.40 Three central sections, main floor and first balcony MAIN FLOOR.................................
Block B-$7.20 Extreme side sections, main floor and first balcony FIRST BALCONY ......................
Block C-$6.00 Top balcony TOP BALCONY............. ..................
a -~~- **.'..*..
3 *:-. *0
4950
Ji
tO
SON EDDY
$3.00
$2.40
$1.80
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