Books › Musical Courier 1928-03-01: Vol 96 Iss 9, 1928 › scan 34
Scan 34
Musical Courier 1928-03-01: Vol 96 Iss 9, 1928
63 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 35. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1March 1, 1928
2MUSICAL COURIER
4OSCAR SEAGLE,
5who will give a song recital at the Guild Theater on Sunday evening, March 11.
7Philadelphia Operatic Society in Drive for 50,000 Members
8Philadelphia will be the cradle of American Opera, if the ambitious plans of the Philadelphia Operatic Society are carried to realization. The Society—a purely altruistic movement—envisions All-American opera in English. By giving the people opera they can understand and at prices they can afford, the Philadelphia Operatic Society expects to create in time a demand for opera that will inspire the American composer to give to the world All-American Opera in English.
10The first step will be the foundation of a school for opera, where those who have studied and who aspire to an operatic career will receive training that will fit them for a professional debut. In order to realize this purpose and to found this school, the Philadelphia Operatic Society is engaged in a drive for 50,000 members, to be gathered from the music loving citizens of Philadelphia. The drive and the purpose behind it have enlisted the active support and only of the leaders in musical effort in Philadelphia, but also of its foremost citizens in many other walks of life, particularly in official circles. Mayor Harry A. Mackey announced at the inception of his term his deep sympathy and official cooperation with the propagation of the arts in his city, especially that of music. His wife has for years past been an active figure in the musical life of the city and is a member of the Philadelphia Operatic Society. Mayor Mackey has also taken membership since the inception of the drive. The membership campaign is proceeding forward with remarkable impetus.
12This is due to the fact that at the Operatic Society's head are men and women fired with zeal for public appreciation of the arts and with staunch adherence to the ideals of the founders of the Society. Mrs. John J. McDevitt, Jr., president of the Society, leads the movement, together with Mrs. Edwin A. Watrous, who is managing director of the Society as well as president of the Philadelphia Music Club, a coordination of musical effort in that city.
14The campaign is meeting the approval of the citizens in general, particularly in operatic circles. Interest in Opera is widespread in Philadelphia, as is shown by the fact that Philadelphia has five opera companies, each giving its individual season of performances.
16The Philadelphia Operatic Society has been pronounced a real civic asset and has been set forth as an example by leaders of musical endeavor in other cities.
18The Philadelphia Operatic Society is known throughout the musical world as a unique endeavor, which had its origin nearly a quarter century ago among persons who were pioneers in popularizing the higher forms of music. It has been carried on uninterruptedly, sustained by the innate musical feeling of the people of Philadelphia and has been the breeding place of much of the musical endeavor in that city. From the first the Society has demonstrated a pure devotion to its original purpose—that of opera in English for the American public. Hitherto it has carried forward this purpose by an annual season of operas in which aspiring vocal talent has had auditions.
20The Society now gives three operas a season in the Academy of Music, one of the first homes of opera in America. Through these performances many singers who have mounted to the heights of operatic standing have had their debut, and talented singers who have perhaps languished in hope have been given their chance to be heard in grand opera. The artists receive no monetary remuneration, nor do any of the Society's officers and members, the proceeds of the performances being devoted to a continuance of the Society's altruistic aims. B. F. K.
22St. Paul's Choristers Give Concert
23On February 17 the Choristers of St. Paul's Church, Brooklyn, under the leadership of Ralph A. Harris, gave a program of unusual beauty, including Zingarelli's Go Not Far, and the 14th century Ode on the Name, Jesu. Russian ecclesiastical music was heard, among which was Day of Judgment (Arciangelsky) and Tschaikowsky's O Praise the Name. Burleigh's Were You There, and Listen to the Lambs, were typical examples of Negro spirituals.
25The chorus sang with splendid unity, and fine sense of musical balance, which spoke volumes for the ability of Mr. Harris.
27Accompanied by Horace W. Hardy, George E. Raseley, displayed a rich tenor voice and rare purity of diction; he was recalled, singing Sullivan's Refrain Thy Voice, and On Wings of Song by Mendelssohn.
29Francis E. Keith was heard in Cesar Franck's Panis Angelicus, singing with the sweetness and earnestness of childhood, and Robert L. Beal, accompanied by the Junior Chorus, sang A Child's Night Song; Carl H. Whistler sang The Bell Man; Addison B. Dickford, mezzo-soprano, gave Harris's The Rose Will Bloom Again. The baritone chorus was heard in Cornfield Melodies and Huhn's Invictus, and the soprano chorus, (senior boys), sang Amaryllis by Ghys—Ambrose.
31The program closed with American folk songs, by the chorus, and the entire recital was one of rare charm.
33Edwin Swain "Merits Large Audience"
34"Swain Impresses Concert Audience, Young New York Baritone Presents Recital at Plantations Club, Has Fine Sense of Pitch, Voice of Singer Marked by Great Flexibility," such was the manner in which the Providence Journal of February 9 headlined the review of Edwin Swain's appearance in Providence the preceding day. After further stating that this artist sang one of the most interesting and varied song recitals of the season, that he merited having a large audience and that he possesses a fine voice of lyric quality which is marked by a great flexibility which is most unusual in a baritone, the critic of the Providence Journal continued his review as follows: "Musicians who heard him last night were impressed by his program-building ability and his refusal to join the ranks of the sensation-makers who throw aside balance and proportion for the sake of 'novelty.' The best singing of the evening was shown in his artistic rendition of Bois Epais in his first group and Over the Steppe in the third and The Mirror in the last. In these, and in other numbers, he showed the added qualities of excellent diction and a fine sense of pitch."
36League of Composers to Present Histoire du Soldat
37Histoire du Soldat, a chamber opera by Igor Stravinsky, will be given by the League of Composers, Sunday evening, March 25, at the Jolson Theater, and in addition to the new work, the marionette opera, El Retablo de Maese Pedro, of Manuel de Falla, will round out the evening's program. Irene Lewisohn, assisted by Leo Bulgakov, will direct the Stravinsky piece. Romeo Bufano, creator and director of marionettes ranging from thirty inches to six feet in size, will stage and direct the marionette actors of de Falla's opera. Pierre Monteux will conduct both pieces.
39The Stravinsky work was produced privately last summer in London under the direction of the composer by the artists of the Little Art Theater, and later given several public performances with success. Founded on a story of Russian folk lore, the Soldier's Tale recounts the adventure of a weary and disillusioned soldier returning from the wars, who, encountering the blandishments of the Evil One, succumbs, suffers, vindicates himself, only to fall victim to a final subtle temptation at the end. The poem of the opera is the work of the Swedish poet G. R. Ramuz, and calls for three mimes and a narrator, who, dressed exactly like the soldier on the stage, sits at a table on the side, drinks beer by candlelight and interprets the actions and reactions of the characters much after the fashion of the chorus in a classic Greek tragedy.
41Carmela Ponselle
42Metropolitan Opera Company
43Management: WOLFSON MUSICAL BUREAU OF NEW YORK, INC.
44250 West 57th Street, New York City
45Hardman Piano
47Süddeutsche Konzert-Direktion Otto Bauer G.m.b.H.
48(South-German Concert Direction)
49Management: ARNOLD CLEMENT
50MUNICH
51Wurzerstr. 16
52Telegraphic Address: Weltkonzert
53The Largest Concert Bureau of Southern Germany!
55HAROLD BAUER
56MASTER CLASSES
57(including individual lessons)
58IN NEW YORK
59Commencing May, 1928
60Apply to Miss LILA JOHNSON, Secretary
61Apartment 8 B, 1075 Park Avenue
62New York, N. Y.
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