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MAY FESTIVAL, APRIL 30 -MAY 3 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 1953
PAGE ONE
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Talent
Featured
in.
60th May
festival
Ormandy, Hilsberg
To Lead Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra, playing at all six concerts of the
60th May Festival will be directed in its 18th appearance in the
annual series by regular conductor Eugene Ormandy and guest
conductor Alexander Hilsberg.
Ormandy will lead the Orchestra in three performances and
Hilsberg will direct the Orchestra in one concert.
EUGENE ORMANDY ALEXANDER HILSBERG
.. regular conductor . . . guest conducting
* s * * * *M
NO STRANGER to Ann Arbor,
Philadelphia Orchestra conductor
Eugene Ormandy will return once
again this year to lead the famed
orchestra in several May Festival
concerts.
Born 53 years ago in Hun-
gary, Ormandy came to this
country in 1921, an unknown
violinist who had been promised
a concert tour. He was quickly
disillusioned when he learned
that the tour was a myth and
his "manager" had never man-
aged anyone before.
Forced to take a job in the
orchestra of a New York movie
house, he soon became its assist-
ant conductor and branched out
into radio work.
By 1930 Ormandy was conduct-
ing summer concerts in Robin
Hood Dell, Philadelphia- and in
the Lewissohn Stadium, New York.
* * *
WHEN THE Minneapolis Sym-
phony conductor fell ill in mid-
season the following year, he was'
asked to finish the series of con-
See MAY, Page 2
ALEXANDER HILSBERG re-
turns to the Philadelphia Orches-
tra during the May Festival to
guest conduct the Philadelphians
to whom he devoted a quarter
century's service.
Now conductor of the New
Orleans Symphony, Hilsberg.
formerly was concertmaster and
associate conductor of the Phil-
adelphia Orchestra. As concert-
master, he gained international
fame for his solo playing and,
leadership of the Orchestra's
famed violin section.
His first contact with the Phil-
adelphia Orchestra came in China
-by way of recordings. He de-
cided then that he would someday
be a member of the organization.
To do so, however, he had to
turn down an opportunity to be
concertmaster of another -Ameri-
can orchestra when he arrived in
the country in 1927.
* * *
'U' Alumnus
Plans Annual
May Return
Director Johnson
To Guest Conduct
Conductor Thor Johnson of th
Cincinnati Symphony will return
to the University where he both
taught and studied to take hi
traditional guest conducting post
at the 1953 May Festival.
Singing under the noted direc-
tor's baton will be the 325-voice
University Choral Union, one of
the oldest and largest permanent
choral groups in existence.
Johnson and the Choral Union
will perform at two festival con-
certs, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 1,
and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 3.
ONEOF THE highlights of
their performance will come at
the second concert when they pre-
sent "Prairie." "Prairie" was spe-
cially commissioned by Johnson
for this performance and is dedi-
cated to Charles Sink, President
of the University Musical Society.
American composer Normand
Lockwood wrote the mnusic which
is set to the text of a Carl Sand-1
burg poem.
At the Friday evening per-
formance, Johnson will direct
the Choral Union in a presen-
tation of Bach's "Mass in B
Minor."
Solo work for the performance
will be done by Dorothy Warensk-
jold, a soprano of operatic fame;
Janice Moudry, contralto; Harold
Haugh, tenor; and Kenneth Smith,
bass.
In addition to presenting
"Prairie" on Sunday afternoon,
the group will sing Brahm's
"Triumphlied." This rarely heard
choral work bas never before
been performed at a May Fes-
tival.
* * *
NUMEROUS works have been
given world premieres or Ameri-
can premieres by the group. Con-
ductor Johnson is only one of a
parade of men who have directed
the chorus. Calvin B. Cady, Al-
bert A. Stanley, Earl V. Moore,
Hardin Van Deursen are the names
which preceded present associate
conductor Lester McCoy.
The grand total of singers who
have participated in the Choral
Union is 20,000. Children, grand-
children and great grandchil-
dren of early members are fre-
quently included in the ranks
of the chorus.
However, the grandmothers who
return to visit the choral institu-
tion find many surprises. At the;
time of its organization by the
University Musical Society, its
membership consisted of approxi-
mately three dozen singers.
It has since grown to its present
proportions, but indications are
that it will stop at 325 'members,
because this is the capacity limit
of the enlarged Hill Auditorium
stage.
Nevertheless, some of the early
traditions remain. Rehearsals have
been held regularly every Tuesday
evening during the academic year
since Choral Union's inaugura-
tion.
Conductor Johnson is on the!
way to becoming a tradition him-
self, because he has conducted at
six consecutive May Festivals. His
local appearance supplements an
already busy schedule of conduct-
ing the Cincinnati group, guest-
conducting the Rochester Phil-
harmonic and filling engagements
at eight summer festivals from
coast to coast.
1">
MAY FESTIVAL PROGRAM
Series4
Concert
Cimaxes
Season
THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
ALEXANDER BRAILOWSKY, Pianist
"Academic Festival" Overture, Op. 80- Brahms
Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op 11.... Chopin
ALEXANDER BRAITOWSKY
Symphony No. 7 in B-flat major,
Op. 111. . .................Prokofieff
FRIDAY, MAY 1, 8:30 P.M.
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor
DOROTHY WARENSKJOLD, Soprano
JANICE MOUDRY, Contralto
HAROLD HAUGH, Tenor
KENNETH SMITH, Bass
Mass in B minor ......................Bach
* * * *
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2:30 P.M.
ALEXANDER HILSBERG, Guest Conductor
FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS
MARGUERITE HOOD,CConductor
ZINO FRANCESCATTI, Violinist
Overture, "Italiana in Algeri".......Rossini
Suite of Songs ............ Benjamin Britten
FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS
Overture-Fantasia, "Romeo and
Juliet" ...................... Tchaikovsky
Concerto in D major, Op. 61, for
Violin and Orchestra ........... Beethoven
ZINO FRANCESCATTI
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
CESARE SIEPI, Bass
Tone Poem, "Don Juan".......... .R. Strauss
"Mentre ti lascio" (K. 513) ..........Mozart
CESARE SIEPI
Mathis der Maler...............Hindemith
"Ella giammai m'amo (Don Carlo) ... .Verdi
, Di sposo di padre" (Salvator Rosa) . .Gomez
MR. SIEPI
Polka and Fugue from Schwanda. .Weinberger
* * * *
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2:30 P.M.
THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
THOR JOHNSON, Guest Conductor
RUDOLF FIRKUSNY, Pianist
Overture in the Italian Style......Schubert
"Prairie"................Normand Lockwood
"Triumphlied". .,................... Brahms
UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
Baritone Solo by ARIA BERBERIAN
Concerto No. 2..................... Martinu
RUDOLF FIRKUSNY
* * * e
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor
ZINKA MILANOV, Soprano
Symphony No. 7 ("Le Midi") ......... Haydn
"Ah, perfido", Op. 65.............Beethoven
ZINKA MILANOV
Second Essay for Orchestra... .......Barber
"Pace, pace" (Forza del destino)...... Verdi
"Ritorna Vincitor" (Aida)..........Verdi
Mme. MILANOV
"La Valse"...........................Ravel
Famous Local, National Artists
To Spark Annual May Program
Climaxing the University Musical Society's concert season, the
six concerts of the 60th annual May Festival will be performed April
'30, May 1.2 and 3.
The Philadelphia Orchestra will be featured in all the concerts,
with Eugene Ormandy conducting three programs and Alexander
Hilsberg directing one.
* * * *
TWO CHORAL GROUPS performing in the Festival are the
Festival Youth Chorus, conducted by Marguerite Hood and heard in
the Saturday afternoon concert and the University Choral Union,
conducted by Thor Johnson and *
singing in the Friday night and *
I
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i
DEU T IE
DEBUT AT FIVEPhiladelphia
Francescatti Follower Orchestra
* f * *I
Sunday afternoon performances.
Famed pianist Alexander Brai-
lowsky, violinist Zino Fran-
cescatti and pianist Rudolph
Firkusny will provide the solo
instrumental entertainment in
their concerts Thursday night,
Saturday afternoo nand Sunday
afternoon, respectively.
Prominent singers in the Festi-
val program include soprano Dor-
othy Warenskjold, contralto Jan-
ice Moudry, tenor Harold Haughs
and bass Kenneth Smith perform-
ing with the University Choral
Union in Friday night's concert.
Spotlighted in the Saturday
evening program will be Metro-
politan Opera bass Cesare Siepi.
Zinka Milanov, soprano with the
Metropolitan Opera, will be starred
in the final concert Sunday night.
THE FIRST May Festival took
place because of a last-minute
program switch. Originally sched-
uled for one concert appearance in
the spring of 1894, the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in midyear
suddenly cancelled all its engage-
ments.
The University Musical So-
ciety directors, confronted with
a concert without an orchestra,
invited the Boston Festival Or-.
chestra to Ann Arbor as a sub-
stitute.
However, the cost of transporta-
tion for the smaller orchestra to
appear here was almost prohibi-
tive because the group had no
other concert engagements in the-
See ARTISTS, Page 2
MlnK iyreets
May Visitors
To Festival
Charles A. Sink, president of
the' University Musical Society,
sends his annual message for the
coming May Festival Season:
*"On behalf of the Board of Dir-
ectors of the University Musical
Society, it is a pleasure to wel-
come guests and performers to
the Sixtieth Annual May Festival.
The aBoard is deeply grateful to
those participants and guests who
have made possible sixty years of
continuous performances. By their
RUSSIA is the scene of]
berg's boyhood days and hisf
musical training. He was1
See HILSBERG, Page 2
Hils-
early
born
ZINKA MILANOV:
Noted Singer Possesses
Dual Vocal Personality
4>
S *
Zinka Milanov, famed Metro-
politan dramatic soprano who will
give the sixth and last concert o1
the May Festival series, represents
more than one widely-popular
singing voice.
Instead, the Yugoslavian artist
has almost two voices-one witl
the range and flexibility of the
coloratura and the other with the
power and intensity of the dra-
matic soprano.
MME. MILANOV has been the
only singer to attempt this dual
vocal personality since the retire-
ment of singing great Rosa Pon-
selle in the 1930's. She believes
that the present scarcity of sing-
ers with widely varied repertoires
is purely a matter of changed
music tastes and teaching meth-
ods.
"It is rather foolish," she said,
"to think that we suddenly now
have a generation of singers
who were born with more lim-
ited voices than those of the
past.
"The change has been not in
what the human voice can do, but
in what we think it can do."
SHE HAS been doing unusual
things with her voice since she,
began her cateer. After her first
concert, given for charity in her
home town, she entered the Con-
servatory at Zagreb for training
as a contralto.
Violinist Zino Francescatti, who
will perform in the May Festival
at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, can
trace his musical training in a
direct line to the famed Paganini.
The French-born violinist in-
herited the Paganini tradition
from his father who studied under
Sivori, the only pupil of the re-
nowned Italian musician.
Cited by the New York Times
as "among the greatest perform-
ers on the instrument now before
the public," violinist Francescatti
is making his first appearance in
Ann Arbor.
* * *
BORN IN 1905 in Marseilles of
parents who were both violinists,
Francescatti made his first public
appearance when he was five years
old. At 20 he established himself
as a violinist in a formal debut
with the Orchestra of the Concerts
de Conservatoire at the Paris
Opera.
Because the career of violinist
was too precarious financially,
Francescatti's father wanted
him to be a lawyer. It was
Francescatti's mother who saw
to it that he was also , given
every chance to develop his
musical talent.
The young violinist had occa-
sion to meet some of the disting-
uished musicians of the day dur-
ing the first World War when he
played on Sundays for wounded
soldiers in the hospitals of Mar-
seilles.
While in the midst of his legal
studies, Francescatti's father died
leaving the family in dire finan-
cial straits. Accordingly he aban-
doned the study of law and went
to Paris to make a musical career!
for himself.
* * *
DURING HIS second year in
Paris Francescatti was chosen by
Maurice Ravel to accompany him
on an English tour playing works
by the composer. At this time the
violinist wrote the composition
" * .'/ .E.- L4AUW'U.' W' ..Y "S.u1 .J C CVLUII1Cp
* *= s s
ZINO FRANCESCATTI
. . . violinist
* * *
"Berceuse on the Name of Ravel."
After a year with a French
concert orchestra Francescatti
went on tour as a soloist play-
ing in such capitals of the con-
tinent as Berlin, Rome, Buda-
pest and the Hague.
In 1938 the 33 year old artist
made his first appearance in this
hemisphere as soloist with an or-
chestra directed by Jose Iturbi in
Buenos Aires.
S* *
SINCE THEN he has played with
the Philharmonic regularly.
In recent years Francescatti,
in addition to extensive tours of
the United States and Canada,
has played in more than a doz-
en countries; including Sweden,
Belgium, Holland, Switzerland,
France and Israel.
During his 1951 tour of Europe
he was soloist at five festivals-
Roubaix, Bordeaux, Strasbourg,
Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh.
Francescatti is a Chevalier of
the Legion of Honor, a title be-
stowed on the artist by the French
government in recognition of his
position in the music world and of
his services to French music.
Six of its 150 performances
played yearly will take place in
Ann Arbor when the Philadelphia
Orchestra gives its 18th consecu-
tive series of Festival concerts
April 30 through May 3 as part of
the May Festival.
Fifty-three seasons ago, back in
the late gay nineties, Philaaeipnia
was attracted to a series of summer
concerts. These were given in an
amusement park under the di-
rection of distinguished German
conductor, Fritz Scheel.
* * *
THE CONCERTS were so suc-
cessful that Scheel was asked to
remain in Philadelphia during the
winter. He consented on the con-
dition that an orchestra of pro-
fessional musicians be put at his
disposal for at least two concerts.
The first two programs given
in 1899 were for the benefit of
the families of heroes killed in
the Philippines. They were so
successful that steps were tak-
en to organize a permanent
Philadelphia Orchestra.
The history of the Orchestra in-
cludes only four permanent con-
ductors: Fritz Scheel, Carl Polig,
Leonard Stokowski and" Eugene
Ormindy who is the present con-
ductor.
About one third of the perform-
ances given each season involve a
different program. Each perform-
ance is allowed about three re-
hearsals.* By agreement among
musicians, no more than nine ses-
sions may be held within a week
and no more than five rehearsals.
A session is defined as a two-and-
a-half-hour rehearsal or a two
hour concert.
OUT OF a season's 150 perform-
ances approximately 90 to 100 are
given in Philadelphia. These in-
clude 28 pairs of concerts, four
student concerts, five children's
See ORCHESTRA, Page 3
May Festival
Booklet To Go
On Sale Soon
The 60th annual May Festival
program booklet being prepared
now by Prof. Glenn D. McGeoch
of the School of Music is scheduled
to go on sale April 23.
The booklet, which gives the
complete program for the festival
as well as some notes on the music
to be played, will be sold at local
book stores the week preceeding
the Festival, and at Hill Auditor-
ium for an hour before each per-
formance.
Designed to provide the aud-
ience with a background know-
ledge of the compositions to be
played, Prof. . McGeoch's notes
have been organized for the pur-
pose of supplying information
essential for the understanding
and enjoyment of the music.
The cost of the program book-
let, prepared under the auspices
of the University Musical Society,
will be fifty cents.
Song Writ ten
For-.Festival
Normand Lockwood, noted
American composer who wrote
"Prairie" to be performed by the
University Choral Union 'in the
fifth May Festival concert at 2:30
p.m. Sunday, April 3,, is a well-
known figure around Ann Arbor.
Lockwood is the son of Samuel
Lockwood, former head of the vio-
lin department in the School of
Music and the nephew of Albert
Lockwood who headed the piano
department in the School of
Music until 1934.
Composer Lockwood - won the
Prix de Rome for composition.
CHARLES SINK
... Musical Society director
* * *
presence and participation the
ideals of the founding fathers as
expressed in the legend, "Ars
Longa Vita Brevis," have been ex-
emplified in large measure.
"Through the years, locally
and nationally, the .press has
graciously supported these ef-
forts and has given courage to
the Board of Directors ever to
strive for sound progressive ad-
vancement. Their confidence has
been justified by the splendid
support which students, faculty,
residents of the community, and
music-lovers generally, have ac-
corded their efforts.
"Sixty years seems long in the
life of an individual, but it is short
in the life of an institution. The
Board of Directors trusts that this
year's Festival programns-consid-
ered both as items by themselves,
but more particularly in associa-
tion with all the programs given
through the entire year, and those
given in past years-will mark a
constructive forward step in the
ladder of permanence; and that in
the years to come, future program
builders may feel that the foun-
dation on which they will build
further has been soundly con-
structed.
"The Board qf Directors ex-
presses appreciation to all who
have given constructive effort
in any and all ways to the ideals
for which these programs have
stood.
"In particular, it is hoped that
students of the University will
profit from the opportunity of
hearing fine music performed by
musicians of recognized reputa-
tion; and that they may be hap-
pier throughout their liveshfor
having come within the sphere of
these musical activities."
,M
Tickets
Season and single tickets for the
ZINKA MILANOV
. . . dramatic soprano
* * *I
But her middle register was
only the groundwork of a phe-
nomenal two-and-a-half octave
range-one paralleled by only a
handful of great singers in all
music history.,
The young singer made her op-
eratic debut as Leonora in "Il
Trovatore" in 1927. Then, after
contracts for guest appearances in
several European opera houses,
Bruno Walter asked her to appear
as "Aida" at the Vienna Staats-
oper.
While Mme. Milanov was sing-
ing in Vienna Toscannini chose
her to star in the 1937 Salzburg
Festival singing Verdi's "Re-
quiem."
The Festival, in turn, led to a
contract with the Metropolitan
'PROGRAM UNIVERSALITY':
Festival
By DONALD HARRIS
Universality of programs char-
acterize this year's May Festival
as 20 different composers repre-
senting eight nations will be fea-
tured.
Statistically the German-Aus-
trian composers comprise 50 per
Features
Twenty Composers
I
overture, Tschaikovsky's "Ro-
meo and Juliet," and Polka and
Fugue from "Schwanda" by
Weinberger, all are old favor-
ites designed to please those who
year after year attend May
Festivals never forgetting their
first visit.
Hindemith and Samuel Barber's
"Second Essay for Orchestra."
Both works, once considered dar-
ing, now echo a distant past when
they were initial -experiences in
modern music.
/* * .
with the exuberant youthful-
ness with which the soloists de-
pict their operatic arias.
The musical world which the
Festival traverses is colorful and
imaginative. One evening we are
in the majestic contemplation of
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