Books › Musical Courier 1926-05-20: Vol 92 Iss 20, 1926 › scan 28
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Musical Courier 1926-05-20: Vol 92 Iss 20, 1926
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1May 20, 1926
2HARRISBURG, PA., FESTIVAL
3(Continued from page 5)
4showing a range of width and richness, with the greatest smoothness of transition from high to low voice. After calling upon Ward-Stephens to receive with her the applause following her singing of his compositions, the singer gave Annie Laurie as an encore. The Duet, Every Flower, from Madame Butterfly, and the quartet arrangement of the Lucia sextet concluded the program. Ward-Stephens supplied most adequate support as accompanist.
6Thursday evening, the Ward-Stephens Male Chorus made its premiere appearance in Forsyth's The Luck of Eden Hall. Grace Kerns was the soloist, with Nevada Van der Veer as The Voice. The chorus entered into the spirit of the tuneful work and brought out the feeling of the old folk tale in splendid style. Grace Kerns was in excellent voice and was warmly received. The crash from the organ and the male chorus in thunderous tones told of the fall of the curse on Eden Hall.
8The second part of the program was given to the presentation of Hadley's New Earth, marked by splendid chorus work and beautiful solos. The short solo, The Unconquerable, sung by Fred Patton, was superbly given and proved a high light of the festival. His magnificent voice thrilled the audience. Mr. Patton entered into this magnificent song with deep feeling and dramatic sense. Judson House's Comrades of the Cross portrayed the crosses in Flanders with much melodious beauty of tone and Mme. Van der Veer's Agnus Dei was exquisitely done. Miss Kerns' obligato with the chorus was delightful. The chorus gave excellent tone and effect in the work, notably the women's chorus in the beautiful Lullaby, and the men's chorus in Winds of Strength. The accompaniments by Mr. McCarell and Miss Bahn, with the magnificent full chorus, Song of the Marching Men, fairly swept the audience with the thrill of it.
10Friday, May 14
11Mme. Van der Veer opened the artists' recital on Friday afternoon with two songs, Sanctuary, by La Forge, and The Robin Woman's Song, by Cadman, maintaining her high standard of previous appearances and responding to applause with the encore, My Love Is a Fisherman. A Memory, by Ganz, was sung by Mr. House in finished style, as was also Una Furtiva Lagrima, from L'Elisir d'Amore, Donizetti. Playing a beautiful accompaniment for himself, Mr. House sang Gartlan's Lilac Tree, and after insistent demands for more, added Strickland's Lindy Lou. Miss Kerns' Ah! Love but a Day (Beach) and The Cat-Bird (Clokey) were well received and she gave The Little Damosel (Novello) as an encore. Mr. Patton's magnificent singing of Walter Damrosch's setting of Danny Deever and of Ward-Stephens' touching Christ in Flanders evoked a veritable storm of applause. Miss Bahn was at the piano and Ward-Stephens at the organ for both these numbers. The first encore, showing much versatility of the artist, was the one-act opera Daniel, the words by Vachel Lindsay and the music by Enders, in which there was the assistance of two "lions," Judson House and R. H. Bagnell, completely bringing down the house. The second encore, with Mr. House at the piano, was The Big Brown Bear, by Mana-Zucca. A fine rendition of the cycle, The Coming of the Year, completed the program. Helen Bahn played the accompaniments with sympathy and artistry.
13The program of Friday evening was of somewhat lighter nature than the preceding recitals and brought the festival to a triumphant close. The Ward-Stephens Male Chorus, with DeWitt Waters at the piano, sang Mosenthal's Thanatopsis during the first half of the program. The attacks were good, the shading was fine, the choral sense of the members was notable and the tone excellent. Elmer H. Ley and R. H. Bagnell sang the incidental bass solos well. Miss Kerns sang Depuis Le Jour from Louise, far surpassing any of her other work during the festival and presented the number with deep feeling and exquisite beauty of voice. Other solo numbers during the evening included Mr. Patton's Non Piu Andrai from Marriage of Figaro, to which he responded with a requested repetition of Ward-Stephens' Christ in Flanders and, as a second encore, a magnificent presentation of Spross' Gungha Din. Mme. Van der Veer fairly electrified her hearers with her singing of the familiar My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice, from Samson et Delila. Following the singing of Vesti la Giubba from Pagliacci, two encores were demanded of Mr. House, For You Alone and Little Boy Blue (McFayden), this latter number still in manuscript.
15The women's chorus sang Dett's Listen to the Lambs with lovely obligato by Miss Kerns, and Be Ye in Love with April-Tide, by Ward-Stephens. Roses in Picardy, by Wood, and Hadley's The Musical Trust were given by the men's chorus, which enjoyed itself thoroughly with the "Tootle-tootle-toot" of the second number and had to repeat the song. The mixed chorus closed the concert and the festival with a vigorous reading of Cook's Swing Along, which was followed by great applause and congratulations, for chorus, soloists and the director, who had presented such a magnificent feast of music to Harrisburg.
17Tentative plans for next year include an enlarged chorus with orchestral accompaniment and a symphony concert.
19L. H. H.
21Director of Westminster Choir Sails
22John Finley Williamson, director of the Westminster Choir of Dayton, Ohio, accompanied by Mrs. Williamson, sailed for Europe on the President Harding on May 5 for a three months' tour. While in Europe Mr. Williamson will observe the methods of some of the world's greatest chorus directors and will make a search of church libraries for forgotten choral works which he hopes to use with the Dayton Choir.
24Mr. Williamson will first go to Leipsic to be with Professor Straube, organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Church, where Bach officiated during the latter part of his life. On June 18 he will go to Zurich to attend one of the music festivals for which that city is noted. Later Mr. Williamson will go to England to observe the directing methods of Dr. Henry Coward, conductor of the Sheffield choir. He will also visit the cathedrals of England and will hear the Orpheus Choir at Glasgow.
26In France, Mr. and Mrs. Williamson will be entertained by the American Ambassador, Myron T. Herrick. Mr. Williamson returns to America on July 22, and goes to Winston-Salem to conduct a three weeks' master class in church music. The Westminster Choir School, of which he is the director, has been spreading the theory of better church music and has given concerts in many of America's leading cities under the direction of M. H. Hanson. The day before he sailed Mr. Williamson made an address at the commencement exercises of the School of Religious Education, New York.
28DAYTON WESTMINSTER CHOIR (CONDUCTOR WILLIAMSON IN CENTER).
30Hotel Majestic and Radio Station WFBH
31Captain Jerome Hart, a resident at the Hotel Majestic, writes as follows: "Statements have appeared in the press that radio station WFBH is to broadcast Yiddish programs, and will 'feature stuff from an all-Jewish hotel.' Inasmuch as WFBH is stationed at the Hotel Majestic, I was surprised at the announcement, and as one interested in broadcasting interviewed the president, Copeland Townsend. He assured me that the announcement had nothing to do with the Hotel Majestic, but with a new and exclusively Jewish hotel, which has been established downtown, and from which, by means of a connecting line, Station WFBH will broadcast Yiddish programs. He also explained that although station WFBH is at present located at the Majestic, the hotel management has no part in its control. The WFBH licenses have a lease under which they operate the station from that house, but the hotel management has no voice in arranging programs or selecting singers, players or speakers, although if objectionable matter is broadcast it can intervene, as it was once compelled to do through a court of law. But mere lack of taste would not justify such interference, nor can Mr. Townsend object to an arrangement such as Station WFBH had entered into with the before-mentioned downtown hotel, much as he would prefer that the radio station at the Hotel Majestic should broadcast programs of a superior class, and not in a dialect intelligible only to a section of the listeners in. The fact that the transmission from station WFBH is particularly powerful, and sometimes interferes with radio enthusiasts who wish to hear the excellent program of other stations has been brought to Mr. Townsend's notice, but he is as powerless in this respect as he is to censor the programs of WFBH, so long as the licensees do not violate the decencies or disseminate matter directly injurious to the interests of the Hotel Majestic and its management."
33Winners of Westchester Choral Preliminaries
34Wassili Leps, orchestral conductor and composer of New York and Harry O. Osgood, associate editor of the MUSICAL COURIER, acting as adjudicators at preliminary trials, have announced their selection of contestants for the choral competitions at the Westchester County Music Festival. These contests, which will be held in connection with the program on the second evening of the festival, May 21, follow: Competition for mixed chorus number over 100 voices—White Plains Choral Society, Caroline Beeson Fry, conductor, and Mount Vernon Choral Unit of the Westchester Society, Edgar Fowlston, conductor; competition for mixed chorus numbering less than 100 voices—St. John's Church Choir, Yonkers, and Tarrytown Chorale Club, Clifford E. Dinsmore of Tarrytown is the conductor of both groups; Ladies' chorus competition—Contemporary Club, White Plains, Caroline Beeson Fry, conductor, and Hastings Ladies' Chorus, Emily H. Avery, conductor; male chorus competition—Westchester Men's Choir, White Plains, Caroline Beeson Fry, conductor, and Century Quartet, White Plains, H. B. Humnewell, conductor.
36The adjudicators, in announcing the groups selected for the final competitions, state that the trial contests revealed notable improvement in the work of the various organizations, and express the opinion that the singing of these groups will contribute greatly to the festival program. Another feature upon which they comment is that, as these competing groups also compose part of the main festival chorus, the work of the latter is certain to be rich and impressive.
38The same adjudicators will serve as judges of the final contests. The selection to be sung by the large mixed chorus is We Never Will Bown Down, from Handel's Judas Maccabeus; the smaller mixed chorus selection will be How Lovely Are the Messengers from Mendelssohn's St. Paul; the women's choral groups will sing The Spinning Song from Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and the men's chorus groups will use Mark Andrews' The Sea as the competing selection.
40On the same evening as these contests, medals will be presented to the winners of the solo competitions, which were held early in May. These are: Mildred Payne, White Plains, soprano; Dily Margaret Morris, New Rochelle, contralto; Henry Ebeling, White Plains, tenor; John B. Vreeland, New Rochelle, baritone; Wilma Hillberg, Crestwood, piano; Marian Miller, Mount Vernon, violin.
42Victor Herbert Memorial
43Under sponsorship of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the second annual Victor Herbert Memorial Concert will be presented in the Crystal Room of the Ritz Carlton Hotel on May 26, commencing at 10 p. m. Silvio Hein is arranging the affair and has already secured the services of the musicians who constituted Victor Herbert's own orchestra, and, in addition, an array of notable talent. Amongst the noted conductors who will lead the orchestra on this occasion are Max Bendix, Nahan Franko, Henry Hadley, Silvio Hein, Raymond Hubbell, Nathaniel Schilkret and John Philip Sousa. Augustus Thomas will pay tribute to Herbert, and Gene Buck, president of the society, will act as master of ceremonies. Amongst the individual artists to be heard are included Victor Barrovalli, Harrison Brockbank, Tom Burke, Harry T. Burleigh, Adam Carroll, Greek Evans, Rudolf Frimi, Evelyn Herbert, Frank Moulan, Fritzi Scheff and Fred Stone. S. L. Rothapfel, so widely known as "Roxy," will also direct the orchestra in a Herbert number.
45MARIANNE KNEISEL and FRANZ KNEISEL, 2nd will accept a limited number of students for VIOLIN PLAYING AND CHAMBER MUSIC at KNEISEL HALL, BLUE HILL, MAINE (Founded by the late Franz Kneisel) from July 8 to August 26, 1926
47A Building has been erected, especially designed, containing Social Meeting and Recital Rooms for Ensemble playing, also a Music Library and a Hall for Concerts and Lectures for the accommodation of students.
49For terms of tuition and particulars for living accommodations, etc., apply to the Secretary of Kneisel Hall, 329 W. 84th St., New York, until June 1st; thereafter Blue Hill, Me.
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