Evening star. [volume], May 01, 1938, Page F-6, Image 80

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Gaul to Play
At Choir
Festival
Seven Churches Are
To Participate in
Tuesday Event.
/“'JHOIRS from seven leading
churches of this city and nearby
Maryland will sing in the Sacred
Choir Festival in the auditorium of
the Mount Vernon Place M. E. Church
at 8:15 Tuesday evening. Dr. Harvey
B. Gaul, organist and conductor of
Pittsburgh, will be the guest organist,
presenting a group of his own com
positions, and will also direct the
Mount Vernon Choir in his “Hear
Thou, O Shepherd of Israel.” The
combined choirs of 33C voices, under
the direction of Eva Whitford Lovette,
will conclude the program by singing
Mozart's "Gloria."
This festival has become an an
nual event of National Music Week
and is sponsored by the D. C. Federa
tion of Music Clubs. R. Deane Shure,
director of music at the Mount Vernon
Church, chairman of arrangements,
announces that loud speakers have
been installed in the Sunday school
room. Tickets of admission will be
given on request. The complete pro
gram follows:
Invocation.
Dr. Paul Schearr^r. pastor. Takoma Park
Presbyterian Church.
"Hebrew Prayer of l
Thanksgiving" I
"Dethryambus" (based'
on the oldest known Harvey B. Gaul
Greek theme* .
"Ascension Fiestus" \
"Jewish Tradition fori
Harvest" r
Organ solos played by the composer.
•‘Holy. Holy. Lord God Almighty" Dykes
Combined choirs and audience.
• Seek Him That Makest the Seven Stars.”
Rogers
"Gloria” Buzzi-Peccia
Foundry M. M. Church Choir. Justin
Lawrie soloist-director; Vincent Slater,
organist.
"Darkly Rose” the Guilty Morning.”
Dudley Buck
"Peace I Leave With You” _ Roberts
Metropolitan Baptist Church Choir: Gil
bert A. Clark, director: Gertrude Small
wood Mockbee. organist.
"Come Dearest Lord”__.. . Bach
"A Song in the Night” Woodman
Calvary Baptist Church Choir; Thomas
Moss, organist-director.
• Requiem et Kyrie”: ' Sanctus" (fugue
and double chorus from "Requiem"*.
Verdi
Hamline M. E Church Choir: John Mar
ville. director; J R McKeever. organist.
"Holy Jesu” (Russian sacramental hymn).
Lvoff
"Incline Thine Ear" IpolitofT-Ivanoff
"Sleep. My Jesus. Sleep" (traditional Dutch
melody * Arr. by Dickinson
Takoma Park Presbyterian Church Choir;
Lottie L. Volkmer. director; Mrs. D. C.
Jackson, organist.
"Open Our Eyes" MacFarlane
"Hallelujah" ("Mount of Olives' *.
Beethoven
National City Christian Church Choir;
W E. Braithwaite. director; Mrs. C. H.
SmKhey. organist
"H?ar. O Thou Shepherd of Israel’’- Gaul
Moun* Vernon Place M E. Church Choir;
R. Deane Shure. director: Edith F
Gottwals. organist. Conducted by the
composer.
Finale. "Gloria «n Excelsis” (from the
Twelfth Mass"* _ . Mozart
The combined choirs conducted by Eva
Whitford Lovette, Miss Gottwals at the
organ.
Benediction.
Dr. W. S. Abernethy. pastor. Calvary
Baptist Church.
PROGRAM OFFERED
BY AGRICULTURE
TTHE next symphony concert by the
Department of Agriculture Or
chestra will be given tomorrow and
Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in the Depart
ment of Agriculture Auditorium, Four
teenth street and Independence avenue.
This time the Agriculture Orchestra
Is departing somewhat from its usual
policy of presenting compositions that
are rarely performed, for the program
includes the following well-known se
lections: Cesar Franck's “Symphony
in D Minor," Weber's "Oberon Over
ture,” the "Polovetzian Dances,” by
Borodin, and the "Russian Easter
Overture,” by Rimsky-KorsakofT. This
program was suggested by Verna L.
Schneider and received the first prize
In a symphony program planning con
test held among the members of the
Department of Agriculture Orchestra.
The concert will be conducted by
Dr. Walter Bauer, who last week ap
peared with the Philadelphia Civic
Symphony Orchestra as guest con
ductor in one of their regular Satur
day evening broadcasts and Sunday
afternoon concerts.
As the concerts of the Department
cf Agriculture Orchestra are open to
the public, there is no admission, nor
are tickets required for entrance to
the auditorium.
■ • ...
ARTS CLUB GROUP
IN SPRING CONCERT
rPHE Choral Group of the Arts Club,
1 Otto Torney Simon, director;
Katherine Morrison at the piano, will
give its spring concert in the club
auditorium, 2017 I street N.W., on
Thursday evening at 8:30.
The following program will be given:
Choruses from “Judas Maccabaeus"
of Handel, “O Father, Whose Al
mighty Power,” “Hail, Hail Judea,”
“See the Conquering Hero Comes,”
“Lead On, Lead On.” Two choruses
of Elgar, “Spanish Serenade,” “Fly
Singing Bird.” Choruses from “The
Creation,” Haydn, "And the Spirit of
God Moved Upon the Face of the
Waters,” “Achieved Is Tiiy Glorious
Work,” “The Heavens Are Telling.”
Margaret Tolson, solo pianist, will
play "Chaconne, G Minor,” Handel;
“Finale From Sonata, E Minor,”
Haydn. Helen Belt and Leila Burt
will accompany in the violin obbligato.
CHURCH RECITAL
BY LYRIC SOPRANO
JOSEPHINE MUSE, lyric soprano,
** will appear in song recital at the
Nineteenth Street Baptist Church,
Nineteenth and I streets N.W., Tuesday
at 8:30 p.m. Miss Muse is a graduate
of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a
pupil of Mme. Ritter-Ciampi, Paris,
France; an artist student of Frank
Bibb of the Peabody Conservatory and
a teacher of voice at the Washington
Conservatory of Music and School of
Expression.
The program is as follows:
Deh. vienl. non tzrdar_ _ .Mozart
Prom "le Nozzo dl Plzaro.”
Aria d'EUsa Handel-Blbb
Be Plorindo e fedele_Bcarlotti
Alleluia-- Mozart
Le Bonh-ur est chose iezere.. 8aint-8aens
Claire de Lune -Szule
Xnabe and Veilchen_Wolfl
Faden . - ...Wolfl
Le Paplllon _ -Fourdrain
Ah. Forz’e lui --Verdi
From "La Travlata."
talm In Oilead -Burlelth
les ’mah soul an’ tone
Arr. by Camille Nickerson
Sllndu Slumber Bon* _Ware
'he Fountain _Ware
or -Watts
Judge as Guest.
r A SALLE SPIER, 4general chair
^ man for Washington of the
National Piano Playing Tournament,
announces that a reception will be
held in the Washington College of
Music Sunday afternoon. May IS, at
4 o’clock in honor of Hans Barth of
New York, who will be the judge dur
ing the tournament. All teachers and
pupils entering the tournament and
the parents of the latter are cordially
Invited to be present to meet Dr.
Barth.
TMC WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
April 12, 1938
*
\
l
My dear Mr. Treat in*l
Hay I again greet the thousand* of musle lovers who are
laboring to advance the cauae of music by means of the fifteenth
annual celebration of National Muaie Week. Music ie the universal
language of cneer end good fellowship. It unquestionably aide la
Inculcating the spirit of good *111 now so greatly needed among
all the peoples of the earth. Music, because of Its ennobling
influence, should be encouraged aa a controlling force in the live*
of men. Discord vanishes with music; hence, music loving people
are amongst tpe happiest people in the world. With the brighter
outlook which comes fron a happy spirit we can katp a saner view t
of life and its problems and see values more nearly in their true
perspective.
X with for your movement, to enlarge and extend the sphere
of music every success and I haps an ever increasin'* number of com
munities *111 Join in the celebration of National Music Week this
year.
Very sincerely yours*
N&i
Mr. C. M. Trimaine,
Secretary,
i National Music Week Committee,
30 Rockefeller Plata,
•New fork, N. Y.
«
The 15th National Music Week, beginning today, will be
celebrated in Washington with two major events. Above, center,
is a reproduction of the letter of greeting by President Roosevelt,
chairman of the Honorary Committee of Governors, sent to C. M.
Tremaine, secretary of that committee. At right is pictured Mrs.
Vincent Hilles Ober, national president of the Federation of Music
Clubs, guest of honor at the banquet and concert Wednesday eve
ning to be held at the National Press Club auditorium, and Dr.
Harvey Gaul, at left. who will appear in a triple capacity, as
organist, composer and conductor of his oivn works in the Sacred
Choir Festival Tuesday evening at the Mount Vernon Place
M. E. Church South.
/
4 \
Reviews of Recordings
By ALICE EVERSMAX.
In the last release of the Columbia
Phonograph Co. are three interesting
albums of different appeal. They are
the Mozart "Symphony No. 25 in G
Minor, K. 183,” recorded by the
"Slnfonietta” conducted by Alfred
Wallenstein, the Schumann "Quartet
in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3,” played by
the Lerner String Quartet and Volume
III of Bach's “Preludes and Fugues”
by Albert Schweitzer, organist.
The symphony recorded here is one
of four w'hich Mozart composed in one
year, and has only been heard publicly
in this country once before when the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the
direction of Wilhelm Gericke, played it
in the season 1899-1890. Its resurrec
tion is the work of Mr. Wallenstein,
who played it in his radio broadcasts
several times. Anally recording it for
the Columbia people. Undoubtedly, it
will become a favorite since its mani
fold beauties are made known to the
public through this Ane recording.
A product of the seven years which
Mozart spent in Salzburg during which
time he composed 20 symphonies, ^t
ranks as one of the two greatest of
this proliAc period of his life. The
other is the "Symphony in A Major,
K. 201.” At the time of the writing
of the G minor symphony, Mozart was
definitely in command of his powers
as a symphonic composer. Although
the symphony which Mr. Wallenstein
has championed in this recording is of
more melancholy character than most
of Mozart's works, it has a vigor and
sureness of treatment that never loses
touch with its basic inspiration. It
contains all the polish and continuity
which Mozart made his own and in
the “Sinfonietta's” reading is delight
fully crisp and colorful.
Schumann’s marriage to Clara Wieck
seemed to open up the supreme source
of his genius and the Arst few years
Federation
Head Guest
At Banquet
Concert to Be Given
On Wednesday at
National Press.
VfRS. VINCENT HILLES OBER,
national president of the Feder
ation of Music Clubs, will be a guest
of honor at the banquet and concert
at the National Press Club on Wed
nesday evening at 7 o'clock. Other
honor guests will be Commissioner
Melvin C. Hazen, C. M. Tremaine of
New York, director of National Music
Week, and Dr. and Mrs. James,
Shera Montgomery.
The banquet will be followed by a
lew words of greeting from the guests,
after which there will be a program of
vocal and instrumental music and in
terpretative dancing by individual
artists and clubs belonging to the
federation.
Already, many of the clubs have
booked entire tables for their mem
bers. Mrs. J. Lester Brooks is in
charge of arrangements. The musi
cal program follows:
"Salutation" _ Gaines
Lovette Choral Club. Franclse Bass Wilson,
assistant director.
Elsie L. Cranmer, accompanist.
Just Singing Along”_Marion Moore
"To Spring" ____ ..Grieg
Sweethearts” from "Sweethearts."
. . _ , Victor Herbert
Adult Department Chorus Calvary Baptist
Church. Andrew c. Wilkins, director.
... -s- Glen Edglngton. accompanist.
Evening Song Schumann
Waltz from "Faust”-Oounod-Alard
Mary Alice Ferguson, violinist.
Ruth Ferguson, accompanist.
Valse Triste” _ . _ Sibelius
Tltiana Onoocheff. danseuse.
St«n Preston Tew. accompanist.
"Stornello" __ _ ..Clmara
"Contemplation” _ .Widor
”Ah! Love But a Day,”
.. . , Mrs. H. H. A. Beach
Mary Apple, contralto.
Claude Robeson, eccompanlst.
"Chant d' Amour” _ __ StoJowskl
Waltz, "A Flat Major. Op. 42”. Chopin
Myrna Macklln. pianist.
_ LaSalle Spier, accompanist.
Two Oriental Moods. Amani and Tarenthl
_ Mile. Onoocheff.
Brother Green,” Southwest Virginia
Folksong, arranged by Annabelle Morrlg
Buchanan.
"Color.”
Arranged by Dorothy Radde Emery
Ah! Love But a Day”. . . .Beach
Elizabeth Somers Glee Club,
Mary Burnett, director.
Edith L. Dawson, accompanist.
“Auld Lang Syne”—Audience.
Indian in Opera.
QN MAY 13 and 14 the Columbia
Light Opera Co. will present “The
Student Prince” at the Roosevelt High
School, featuring in the leading role
of Prince Karl Franz, David Manley,
an American Indian, who was bom in
Calcutta, India, and spent many of
his early years in a British boarding
school In the Himalaya Mountains
with about a dozen other little Amer
ican boys among 300 Anglo-Indian
and British lads.
of his married life were responsible
for some of his finest and most beau
tiful compostions. Among these is
the "Quartet in A Major" which he
finished in the course of a few days.
Hearing its themes and their develop
ment. one can well believe that the
composer turned all his energies with
joy to the creation of this work and
that it was easy for him at that
moment is shown by the short space
of time which he needed to com
plete it.
He had set himself a definite idea
on which to build the quartet con
sisting of the use of the fifth intervals
in the first movement, the fourth
in the second and Introduction of the
seventh in the third movement and
the sixth in the finale. But this tech
nical plan interferes in no wise with
his melodic invention, which is always
of the lovely and delicate Schu
mannesque quality. It would seem
that he amdsed himself also with a
play of various rhythms which in the
Lemer presentation comes out with
delightful clarity and charm. This
1s one of the loveliest quartets of
the repertoire and one which even
those who have no special liking for
chamber music will surely enjoy.
Albert Schweitzer continues his
valuable contribution to organ record
ings in this third volume of Bach's
work. Included in the seven 12-inch
records are the “Prelude and Fugue
in C Minor.” the "Prelude and Fugue
in E Minor,” the “Prelude and Fugue
in C Major” and the “Fugue in A
Minor.” This release is a domestic
pressing of European Society Sets and
is played on the Silbermann organ
of the Church of Ste. Aurelia in Stras
bourg. Mr. Schweitzer has made a
remarkably smooth recording and his
treatment of these selections from
Bach's Weimar and Leipzig periods
is masterly.
Russian Songs.
gAVELI WALEVItCH. among the
first Russian artists to bring the
romantic Russian and gypsy folk
songs to America, presented a varied
program before the students of Gun
ston Hall School on Thursday at 8
o clock. Walevitch, whose appearances
are world wide, was born in Odessa.
----
Concert Schedule
TODAY.
Y. W. C. A.—Girls Chapel Choir
of National City Christian
Church, Helen Turley, director;
Jean Shirley Albert, flutist;
Margaret Clark, cellist; Eoto
Russell, Helen Mcllree, pianists;
Barker Hall, 5 p.m.
Washington Music Teachers As
sociation, monthly meeting,
1810 Connecticut avenue N.W.,
5 p.m.
Marine Band. War Memorial, Po
tomac Park, 3 p.m.
TOMORROW.
Department of Agriculture Or
chestra, Dr. Walter Bauer, con
ductor; Department Auditor
ium, 8; 30 p.m.
Henry Gregor, lecture-recital,
“Modernism and Jazz," Phillips
Memorial Gallery, 3:30 p.m.
Navy Band, Sail Loft, Navy Yard,
2 p.m.
TUESDAY.
Sacred Choir Festival, Dr. Harvey
Gaul, guest organist, Mount
Vernon M. EL Church South,
8:18 p.m.
Henry Gregor, lecture-recital,
“The American Idiom," Phillips
Memorial Gallery, evening.
Department of Agriculture Or
chestra, Dr. .Walter Bauer, con
ductor, Department Auditorium,
8:30 pm.
Josephine Muse, soprano, song
recital. Nineteenth Street Bap
tist Church, 8:30 pm.
Army Band, Army Band Audi
torium, 2:30 pm.
WEDNESDAY.
Musical Program, Federation of
Music Clubs Banquet, National
Press Building, 7 p.m.
Marine Band Symphony Orches
tra, William Pfeiffer, violinist,
soloist, Marine Barracks, 8 pm.
THURSDAY.
The Telephone Glee Club of
Washington, Robert Davidson,
director, North Carolina ave
nue M. P. Church, 8 pm.
Choral Group of the Arts Club,
Otto Tomey Simon, director.
Club Auditorium, 8 pm.
Army Band, Army Band Audi
torium, 2:30 pm.
FRIDAY.
Marine Band, Marine Barracks,
1 pm.
SATURDAY.
Marine Band, Marine Barracks,
11:30 am.
Army Band, Army Auditorium,
10:30 am.
Folk Festival Creates
National Music Revival
Series of Events at End of Present Week
Will Lay Before People Those Elements
Which Are Appreciated Abroad.
By Alice Eversman.
THE National Polk Festival, which will take place on Friday, Saturday
and Sunday at Constitution Hall, is an event of great importance in
the musical life of the country. It carries a significance of real import,
and is not to be classified as an entertainment which brings to the fore
the ways by which different sections of the country have contrived to have
music and the dance serve them in moments of relaxation. It means the
resurrection of a type of music which*
has been the inspiration of the great
est musical composers in other lands,
and brings before the people of this
modem country the wealth of re
sources which lie at their hand for a
like inspiration. It gives a compre
hensive view of the many elements
which could be turned to the fashion
ing of a national music.
The practice of having musical
folk festivals has been in operation
for some years. The interest in folk
music has been awakened by the en
thusiasm of a few outstanding musi
cians who, by chance, mostly were put
on the trail of an art which has been
active yet practically unknown to the
general public since this country was
first settled. What these pioneers in
the search for folk lore found has
proven to be of such value that they
have devoted most of their time to
writing down, in a form that may be
preserved, the quaint and lovely
music which was the precious pos
session of inhabitants of out-of-the
way corners of the land, and which
has been kept in existence only by
being handed down from one gener
ation to another.
N°t all of It, of course, can be I
named Indigenious American
music. Much of it has been brought
from the various European countries
which contributed to the citizenry of
the United States. In many cases it
remains almost intact, and its rela
tion to the folk lore of its mother
country is easily discernible, yet again
it has undergone changes which the
circumstances under which it thrived
here have caused. But whatever its
present state, it is a beacon that
flashes back into the past, lighting up
the obscurity which masked the early
musical life of the young Nation.
The collections of American folk
music are rapidly assuming consid
erable proportions. In the begin
ning it was customary to select only
tunes which were melodious or of
some musical value. Now, it is being
recognized that whatever the charac
ter of the music, it has an important
bearing on the entire picture of the
times which the assembling of folk
lore attempts. Within the last few
years these collections have been put
into special anthologies, such as cow
boy songs, Negro spirituals, work
songs, logger songs and the like. Again
they are classified as to sections of the
country, with Maine, Vermont, the
Virginias, the Ozarks being the prin
cipal sources of supply.
Exhaustive studies of the history of
Individual songs, have also been made,
and these have brought to light many
interesting facts not really related to
the music at all. In some cases hazy
knowledge of the progress of migration
has been clarified and a better un
derstanding of the social and historical
conditions arrived at through tracing
the life of some old song. Almost every
old and authentic Instrumental piece,
song or dance, is a milestone in the
story of our national development.
AMERICA has much to contribute to
what is designated folk music that
is colorful and unusual. There are,
first and foremost, the Indian music
and dances and the Negro spirituals.
In this rich repertory is woven not
only the tradition of these peoples, but
all the emotions which surged through
their lonely and difficult lives. This
music reflects the very soul of the
most elemental of the many types
which make up thi# country and is,
therefore, the truest in the sense of
its unvarnished honesty and sincerity.
It has proven to hold a high artistic
value, because it springs from depth
of feeling which unconsciously directs
it to an art form.
Then there are the cowboy songs,
which are only to be equaled by the
same type in the South American re
publics and the songs >f the American
lumberjacks, and soldiers’, sailors’'and
miners’ songs. These have a distinc
tive American trait, and as such have
their place In the collection of folk
music. The ancient music which is
found practically unchanged in the
Carolinas, the Virginias and the New
England States is a part of that greater
field of folk music with which the
countries of Europe are so richly en
dowed.
As fa> as America goes, the nomen
clature of "folk” music is not entirely
correct. It was first given to the
music which developed in peasant
classes in contradistinction to that
k
►— -j
of the more educated of the social
scale. It grew out of the festivities
and the customs of a class isolated
because of its status in society and
need of relying on itself for entertain
ment. It is often touched with su
perstition or by a childlike simplicity
of outlook, the result of the circum
stances siarounding this class of
society.
But the American' songs, bom of
unusual conditions, not duplicated
anywhere in the world, cannot right
fully be classified with those of the
peasantry of other countries. They
are simply an outcome of circum
stances which could not be changed
in a growing world, but which place
no class distinction, if we except the
Negro spiritual, on those who cher
ished them. If one were correctly to
list the real folk music in America,
it would apply only to that which
links back with the music of Europe.
'J'HERE is a sad note in this revival
of the music which served our
ancestors as entertainment, for it em
phasizes the enormous change which
has been wrought in this country in
its short span of life. The simple
melodies are echoes of a past sim
plicity of thought never more to be
a part of the busy life of this thriv
ing land. They have been replaced
by another music, reckless and primi
tive, which answers the demands of
the hurried and vivid manner of
living of today.
Will this, one day, be classified as
folk music? Will a generation to
which the popular music of the pres
ent day is most appealing be inter
ested in further ferreting out the old
traditions of music which have sud
denly come into prominence? The
best that can be hoped for is that
such festivals as will be staged this
week, will catch the attention of com
posers and artists of the time, to the
end of creating, on this basis, a mu
sic which will go down to posterity
with a truly American stamp on it.
MUSIC TEACHERS
TO HEAR CONCERTS
'T'HERE will be no program meeting
of the Washington Music Teach
ers' Association this month. In place
of it a subscription for 60 tickets for
the Sunday afternoon concerts next
winter of the National Symphony
Orchestra has been taken and these
will be given to the members drawing
the lucky numbers at the business
meeting this afternoon at S o’clock at
1810 Connecticut avenue.
Also, reports of officers and com
mittee chairmen will be received then
and the annual elections take place.
The following Nominating Committee
has been appointed: Mrs. Prank
Byram, chairman, with Emerson
Meyers representing the pianists,
Mary Cryder and Charlotte G. Lip
pitt the vocalists and Elsa Raner the
violinists. This committee will nomi
nate a new president for the associ
ation.
ROBERT DAVIDSON,
Who will direct the Telephone
Glee Club of Washington at a
song festival Thursday eve
ning at North Carolina Ave
nue M. P. Church.
' 4
In Local Music Circles
THE program for the Sunday
Hour of Music at Friendship
House. 619 D street S.E., today
will be presented by Mrs. Rad
de Emery, pianist; lone Hoffman, con
tralto; Herman Hoffman, violinist,
and Alden Emery, flutist. The pub
lic is cordially invited.
The program for the Sunday Music
Hour at 5 o'clock today at the Y. W.
C. A., at Seventeenth and K streets,
will be presented by the Girls’ Chapel
Choir of the National City Christian
Church; Helen Turley, director; as
sisted by Jean Shirley Albert, flutist;
Margaret Clark, cellist, and Eoto Rus
sell and Helen Mcllree, pianists. The
public is cordially invited to attend.
Le Roy Lewis announces a series
of students’ recitals, the first to be
at the Catholic Sisters' College this
afternoon by Margaretta Eckloff, so
prano, and Robert Ewing, baritone;
on May 31, at St. Andrew's Parish
Hall, New Hampshire avenue and V
street, Ruth de Jarnette, dramatic
soprano, assisted by Elizabeth Mc
Grory, contralto, and on June 7, at St.
Andrew's Parish Hall, Margaretta
Eckloff and Robert Ewing will repeat
their program. Malton Boyce will be
the accompanist.
Gretchen Hood will present her
pupils and the Glee Club of Gunston
Hall Academy for Girls in a recital to
be held this evening at Gunston Hall.
Among those participating will be
Bernadette M. Crouch. Robert Jarrett,
Marian McGinley, Phil Young, Dorma
Herzog, Edna Roche. Frances Camp
bell, Minnie Mae Emmerich, Lorraine
Nicholson and Barbara Henning.
There will be two meetings of the
Rubinstein Club this week at the
Willard Hotel. The first rehearsal
will be this afternoon at 2:45 and
the second Tuesday evening at 7:45.
The second concert of the season is
scheduled for Wednesday evening, May
11. at the Willard Hotel. Earl
Weatherford, tenor, is the soloist.
Franceska Kaspar Lawson, soprano,
will sing a group of songs this eve
ning for the Young People's Service
League of Emanuel Church, Braddock
Heights, Va. Mrs. Lawson will also
give a brief talk on her visit to the
coronation in London last May.
Music by American composers,
treated from different angles, will be
the background for the two recital
programs that Henry Gergor will give
in his series at the Phillips Memorial
Gallery, 1600 Twenty-first street
street northwest, tomorrow afternoon
and Tuesday evening of this week.
Mr. Gregor will talk Monday at 3:30
p.m. on "Modernism and Jazz." Tues
day night, in the evening series of
"Music Yesterday and Today,” his
topic will be "The American Idiom.”
Sylvia Kaplowitz of the Homer L.
Kitt Music Studios will present an
accordion and piano recital tomorrow
evening at 8 o'clock at Barker Hall,
Y. W. C. A., Seventeenth and K
streets N.W. The pupils featured will
be the Homer L. Kitt Accordion Octet
and Homer L. Kitt Accordion Band.
They will play a group of numbers
written and arranged by Mrs. Kaplo
witz especially for this recital.
The soloists are Frederick Harris,
Mervin Cohen, Antonette Charuhas,
Leona Marans. Miriam Madden, Fran
ces Hidnert. Richard and Daniel Bra
love, Jane Strachan, Bob Arnold, Jack
Webb, Frances Reich, Gertrude Betts,
Ruth Kogod, Ruth Lerner, George
Scott, Donald Wolpe, Billy Lowdermilk,
Adele Brodie, Bernard Lipshutz, Vi
vian Cohen, Charlotte Footer, Naomi
Rule, Mary Jane McClintock, Bernice
Biron, Stanley Sterling, Ruth Ann and
Charles Sures, Billy Isaacs, Lawrence
Kessel, Bobby Singer, Elizabeth Lee
Byers, Mary Grace Gamard, Charles
Greenburg, Nancy Mae Young, Alvin
Ostrow, Bobby Kaemmerer, Ellis Bar
ron, Harvey Rosendorf, Izatta Simon,
Marvin Yago and Konrad Kaplowitz.
The public is cordially invited. There
is no admission fee.
A piano recital of compositions by
living composers will be offered by
the King-Smith Studio Class ot Kath
arine Frost as the first in Mrs. Frost’s
spring recital series on Tuesday eve
ning at 8:30 o’clock at 1708 S
street N.W.
The group of students appearing on
this opening program will include
ISsette Llttlehales, Elizabeth Watkins,
Suzanne Marshall, Jane Ellison, Har
riet Eldredge, Katharine Nash; Anne
Rogers, Ann Watkins and Virginia
Spencer.
The Lovette Choral Club, under
the dlrectoin of Eva Whitford Lovette,
will present its 11th annual spring
concert in the Italian garden of the
Mayflower Hotel on Friday, May 13.
This group has been invited to
sing at the biennial convention of
the National Federation of Music
Clubs in Baltimore next year. The
club will present one of its own artist
members. Hazel Cake, dramatic so
prano. The club accompanist is Elsie
L. Cranmer. As an assisting artist,
Milton Schwartz will be presented.
A unique symphonic orchestra, com
posed of only fretted instruments,
under the direction of Sophocles Papas,
well-known Washington guitarist and
music teacher, will give a performance
on May 21 for the benefit of the Wash
ington Committee for Aid to China.
Tiie orchestra was organized to en
courage the use of string instruments
for classical music. All the music
used is arranged specially in sym
phonic form. The concert will be held
in the Foundry Methodist Episcopal
Church at 8 p.m.
The first recital given by the pupils
of the different preparatory studios
created this year by Mme. Marie von
Unschuld in the different parts of the
city, affiliating them with the Von
Unschuld University of Music, was
given yesterday at 2:30 p.m. in the
W. M. C. A. Building. The young
students, ranging in age from 7 to 12
yeprs, played compositions by Schu
mann. Massenet, Saint-Saens, Men
delssohn, Brahms and Chopin.
Participating in the program were
Betty Lee Dent. Amelie Blaser, Jeanne
Stephen, Mary Lee, Morlin and Susan
Foster, Joan Schwetnhaupt, Rees
Stephen, Morris Barret, Ronald
Bowles. Jimmie Adamson, jr.; Gerry
Coe, Donald Leavitt, Jean Jacques
Thomas. Humphrey Kern. Max Trum
mel and Bobby Ehrmann. Two of
Mme. von Unschuld's advanced stu
dents, Virginia Hodge and Alberta
Hardy, and Lauiette and Evelyn Fos
ter, graduates and assistants to Mme.
von Unschuld, played compositions by
Chopin, Liszt. Straoss-Schutt. Mrs.
Frank I. Eichenlaub o* the vocal de
partment, student of Ethel Pyne, con
tributed a vocal number, and Mme.
von Unschuld ended the program by
request with the “Polonaise' of Mac
Dowell.
The Elena de Sayn String Ensemble
gave a short program Monday for the
Slavic-American Society of Music and
Pine Arts which celebrated Easter in
accordance with the Greek calendar.
Dr. Haworth of the Wilson Teachers
College showed his unusual collection
of rare Lithuanian stamps and gave
a brief historical outline of the coun
try.
The Chadwick Orchestra entertained
the patients at the Home for Incur
ables last Saturday night, with a pro
gram which included a viola solo by
Bertrand Richter, a duet by William
Gibson, trombone, and Jack Morales,
baritone; clarinet solo by Hartwell
Csicote and a violin solo by Jack Dulin
and several ensemble numbers. The
program was repeated on Sunday aft
ernoon at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
--«-.
MANZONI REQUIEM
BY HAMLINE CHOIR
'J'HE celebrated Manzoni “Requiem,”
by Giuseppi Verdi, will be sung by
the choir of Hamline Methodist
Episcopal Church on Wednesday eve
ning, May 18, at 8:30 o’clock. This
group of 55 singers, under the direc
tion of John Marville, has given at
least one major choral work each
year, chosen from among those seldom
heard in Washington. The only other
performance of this beautiful mass in
the city within recent years was that
of the Hamline Choir eight years ago,
and it is because of the many requests
for a repetition of this work that it is
being sung again this season.
Written in honor of the great Italian
poet, Manzoni, the “Requiem” has
become as famous as Verdi’s most
popular opera “Aida,” which was com
pleted about the same time.
It is interesting to note that the
only public appearance of Arturo
Toscanini as a conductor outside of
the National Broadcasting Co. studios
during his sojourn in America this
season was to conduct a performance
of this “Requiem" in Carnegie Hall
on March.4.
An orchestra made up of leading
members of the National Symphony,
with J. Russell McKeever at the organ,
will provide the accompaniment.
SOMERS GLEE CLUB
IN ANNUAL CONCERT
'T'HE Elizabeth Somers Glee Club of
x the Y. W. C. A. will present its
annual concert on’Saturday evening.
May 14, at 8:30 o’clock, in Barker Hall.
Raymond L. Pigott, well known
Washington tenor, will be the assisting
soloist. A dance group will also be
featured on the program, directed by
Virginia B. Sholar. One number of
particular interest is that written
especially for the glee club by Dorothy
Radde Emery of Washington.
Mary M. Burnett, music secretary
of the Y. W. C. A., directs the glee
club, and Edith Dawson U the ac
co
Two Great
Stars With
Symphony
Orchestra to Offer
Interpreters of
German Opera.
W^ITH Laurltz Melchior, tenor, and
Marjorie Lawrence, soprano, on
its schedule to appear as soloists, the
National Symphony Orchestra, under
Dr. Hans Kindler, will next season give
Washington music lovers an oppor
tunity to hear two of the greatest in
terpreters of German operatic works
singing today. The two vocalists are
members of the world-famous German
wing of the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Miss Lawrence, whose star has been
rising rapidly during the last two
seasons, will be making her Washing
ton debut at the National Symphony
concert. Mr. Melchior’s concert will
mark his first appearance with the
orchestra.
During the past season at the Met
ropolitan Miss Lawrence created a
sensation with her magnificent per
formance of the title role of Richard
Strauss’ opera, “Salome.” Behind this
performance stretched a brief career
that can only be described as meteoric.
In 1928 Miss Lawrence, living with
her family in Australia, won a singing
contest sponsored by the Melbourne
Sun. A year later she set out for
France and started serious study with
Mme. Cecile Gilly. In 1932 came her
operatic debut as Elisabeth in “Tann
hauser" in Monte Carlo and a contract
with the Paris Opera soon followed.
Not exclusively a Wagnerian, she won
additional fame in the leading roles
of the French and Italian repertoire,
including Rachel in "La Juive," “Aida”
and Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni.”
She sang her first Salome in No
vember, 1934, in a Paris revival of the
Strauss work. Previously she had
sung the same heroine in Massenet'*
Herodiade.” Miss Lawrence mas
tered not only the vocal difficulties of
the work, but the dance as well, learn
ing to spare her breath for the diffi
cult singing that follows it. The in
ability to handle the dance portion
of the role had been the downfall of
many an otherwise splendid character
ization ol the part.
Mr. Melchior, who has appeared in
recital in Washington, is also known
through radio broadcasts from the
Metropolitan. In view of his position
as No. 1 tenor of the New York opera
house today, it is amusing to recall the
discouraging circumstances of his
debut.
Already a famous Wagnerian tenor
on the continent, he made his New
York bow at a matinee performance
of “Tannhauser” on February 17, 1926.
The debut came off as scheduled, but
hardly got passing notice, for on the
same evening a performance of "Rig
oletto” with another debut set an all
time high for operatic ballyhoo. It
was the bow of Marion Talley as
Gilda in Verdi's opera and the fab
ulous publicity surrounding that per
formance seemed destined to doom the
new Wagnerian tenor to obscurity.
However, Melchior’s subsequent per
formances in the roles of Tristan,
Parsifal, Lohengrin, Siegmund and
Siegfried brought the Danish tenor
quickly to the fore and made him an
invaluable member of the German
section of the company. The tenor
was born in Copenhagen and began
the study of voice in 1908. He first
sang as a baritone, but was persuaded
that his true voice was tenor. During
his career he has been actively aided
by Hugh Walpole, English novelist,
and studied the Wagnerian roles un
der the tutelage of Wagner's widow,
Cosima, and the composer’s son, Sieg
fried.
The National Symphony, under Dr.
Kindler’s baton, will again present a
series of eight midweek concerts, be
ginning November 9, when Mr. Melch
ior will be soloist, and a series of 12
Sunday afternoon concerts, beginning
October 30. Moriz Rosenthal, world
famous pianist, will be soloist at the
latter concert.
Reservations for season tickets are
now being accepted at the offices of
the National Symphony Orchestra
Association, 1111 Woodward Building.
Season ticket applications are filled in
th» order received, subject only to the
prior requests of season ticket sub
scribers of last season and contributors
to the orchestra’s sustaining fund for
the 1S38-39 season.
-0
MARIAN ANDERSON
RECITAL NEXT WEEK
VJARIAN ANDERSON, the cele
brated Negro contralto, will give
a song recital st the Rialto Theater
on Monday evenng. May 9, under the
auspices of the Howard University
School of Music.
Phone Glee Club.
'T'HE Telephone Glee Clih of Wash
ington will give a song festival
at North Carolina Avenue' M. P.
Church, Eighth street and North Caro
lina avenue S.E., on Thursday evening
at 8 o’clock.
Robert Davidson, well known in
Washington musical circles, Is the
director and Gertrude Smallwood
Mockbee, a member of the District of
Columbia Chapter of the American
Guild of Organists, is accompanist.
During the 1937-1938 season the
club has sung on more than a score
of occasions to a total audience of
more than 40,000 people.
Warren F. Johnson, Organist
Church of the Pilgrims
22nd and P Sts. N.W.
Sunday Evening
7:20 O’clock
Folk Carol Suite_Rupert Erlehach
Armando Jannuzzi
Grand Opera Dramatic Tenor
Voice Specialist
Italian Method
School, of bol canto
Adams 3697*J
1519 Oak St. N.W. (Cor. 16th)
PUBLIC ORGAN RECITALS
I _H_ Sunday. Public Service 7 p.u.
lS||i^*hin0!0«
Hill of the Church of Jesus Christ ot
11#IS Latter-Day Saints
1111116th St. & Columbia Rd. N.W.
MaM MON • WED., FRI.—8 P.M.
D. STERLING WHEELWRIGHT.
Director
WALTER T. HOLT'
Mandolin, banjo, guitar, Hawaiian gui
tar and ukulele. Pupils trained for
home, orchestra, stage and radio play
ing.
Ensemble Practice with Nordica Cluba
1801 Col. Rd. N.W. Col. 0946