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Musical Courier 1928-06-21: Vol 96 Iss 25, 1928
61 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1London Hears Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex via Radio
3Excellent Studio Performance Spreads Latest Stravinsky Gospel to British Isles—John Powell Heads Formidable List of American Concert-Givers—Pachmann and Rachmaninoff, Heifetz and Cecilia Hansen Play—Common Garden Opera at Covent Garden.
5LONDON.—The most important musical event of the past month was undoubtedly the first performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in concert form. Not in concert manner, however, for the only way to hear it was via the earphones or the loudspeakers of a million English homes. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which has been responsible for about ninety percent of all the modern music heard in London this season, gave the performance in its London studio on two successive days—Saturday and Sunday—conducted by the composer himself.
7Time was when Stravinsky was the composer à la mode in London: hardly a week passed without either a Sacre or a Petrouchka or the latest dervity in the realm of chamber music being performed in some concert hall or theater. But London has grown conservative again, sobered by devastating box-office deficits, so that nowadays a Stravinsky premiere is something of an event. It is perhaps not too much to say that Stravinsky has, with this performance, put himself back on the map. There is no telling, of course, what the listeners-in thought of it, but it seemed to us that he had realized much of the stark majesty of the ancient drama, and the return to simplicity has brought with it a surprising return to beauty and even emotional depth, which Stravinsky himself might be the last to admit. At any rate the critics were more inclined to "yes" him than they have been for some time.
9America has heard the work, and my criticism would therefore be out of date. Nevertheless it may be permitted to say that I was genuinely moved by Jocasta's great appeal, by the beauty of Oedipus' decidedly Italian aria, by the chorus at the end of Act I and by the final scene. The shades of Verdi, I thought, have been haunting Mr. Stravinsky's archaic muse. The performance was excellent throughout.
11BACH CANTATA MARATHON
13We have now had, via the British Broadcasting Corporation, Stravinsky's opera oratorio, Honegger's King David, Schönberg's Gurrelieder and other monumental modern works. Equally monumental is the task on which the corporation has now embarked. It has begun performing all of Bach's church cantatas, one on each Sunday—a program which will take some four years to complete. In Bach's own time these cantatas were, of course, sung on the appropriate Sundays at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. They have had to wait for the invention of the radio to be completely brought back to life.
15Other noteworthy choral performances that have taken place recently include a repetition of Delius' Mass of Life by the Philharmonic Choir under Kennedy Scott. The Bach Choir has given its last concert under Dr. Vaughan Williams, who has retired as its conductor; and both this choir and the Bach Cantata Club had the rare privilege of being assisted by Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous organist, Bach scholar and philanthropist, who every few years comes out of the African jungle to play Bach as few people can play him, and to collect new support for the humane work to which he devotes his life.
17AMERICANA
19There has been a goodly number of American concert-givers, attracted by the reputation of the London "season," which is supposed to take place in the spring. The London season, however, does not effect concert-goers in the least, except when the weather is fine, in which case they are especially good at staying away.
21Nevertheless American artists, finding it convenient to play here after the American season is over, like to come to London to try their luck. If they play for half-filled houses, or houses filled exclusively with tired critics and dead-heads, they must not complain. John Powell, who appeared at the Queen's Hall, had, considering everything, a good crowd. He had not played here for twenty years, and was therefore unknown to all but the Old Guard. Those who didn't know him thought they had to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. But he did make a real impression with his very poetic playing of Schumann and Chopin. He reverently included a piece by MacDowell in his encores and gave the first London performance of the Liszt Slumber Song that Carl Lachmund rescued from the composer's waste-basket. Even at the risk of making a cheap joke one can't help thinking that the composer knew where it belonged.
23AMERICAN MUSIC?
25A young American composer, Sam Barlow, arrived in London with a portfolio of music obviously made in Italy or France. The idiom was that of Debussy, Respighi, de Falla, rather than Sam Barlow. He played a number of his piano pieces, none of which had sufficient structural strength or individuality to engage one's interest, and Mme. Nina Kochetz sang a few songs, some with chamber orchestra (under Anthony Bernard). A so-called Vocalise was decidedly the best.
27Samuel Dushkin and Ruth Kemper were two American violinists heard with pleasure. With Dushkin's facile technique and pleasing delivery we are long familiar; Ruth Kemper surprised her audience with a remarkably fine reading of the César Franck sonata, the Bach E major concerto and other good things. She is distinctly a musical player and introduced herself most favorably to a new audience.
29Besides Powell we have had, among American pianists, Katherine Heyman, who gave one of her astonishing Scriabine recitals—astonishing both for the steadfastness of her faith in the composer as for her technical equipment and interpretative resources.
31As for singing, aside from Marion McAfee's work at Covent Garden, we have heard Lois Davidson, whose fresh and pure soprano was best in some French songs (notably
33(Continued on page 9)
35One Dollar Down and One Dollar a Week for Grand Opera
37The Chicago Civic Opera has issued a statement which reads as follows:
39"One Dollar Down and One Dollar a Week for Grand Opera! This is the novel plan which is being introduced this summer by the Chicago Civic Opera Company on the sale of its less expensive subscription tickets. The innovation of instalment plan purchasing of grand opera has been devised to meet the ever increasing demand for seats on a convenient deferred payment plan.
41"Hereafter the less expensive seats for the seven subscription series will be offered to the public which desire the benefit of a deferred payment plan on a basis of a small cash payment and ten weekly instalments to take care of the balance. Subscriptions for twelve performances, costing $11.00, $16.50, $22.00 and $27.50 will be included. The more expensive seats, subscriptions for which cost $33.00, $44.00, and $66.00 will be sold under the usual plan of 20 per cent with order, and the balance on or before September 15. The $11.00 subscription which purchases a $1.00 seat for twelve performances (a bargain saving 9.1 per cent over box office prices) can be had for an initial payment of $1.00 and ten weekly payments of $1.00 each. For the $16.50 subscription, (a $1.50 seat for twelve performances), the initial payment is $1.50 and the balance is divided over ten weekly payments of $1.50. The $22.00 subscription (a $2.00 seat for twelve performances), is sold for an initial payment of $2.00 and ten weekly payments of $2.00—and the $27.50 subscription (a $2.50 seat for twelve performances) for an initial payment of $2.50 and ten weekly instalments of $2.50."
43The instalment plan for grand opera is certainly a new and good innovation. By such a plan the management has shown that it understands the financial condition of the country. Nearly everything nowadays is sold on the instalment plan—pianos, radios, musical instruments, sewing machines, suits of clothes, automobiles, stocks and bonds, land, houses, horses, stoves, kitchen utensils and what not. The credit of the American the world over is good, and though in Europe cash-as-you-purchase seems still the vogue, the Americans are introducing the deferred payment basis there, which permits the poor to accumulate things they could not possibly purchase if 100 per cent were asked instead of part payments.
45Chicagoans should, and most likely will, take advantage of the new plan and no tickets for the cheaper seats should be left at the box office except for the Friday night performances which will be sold entirely at the box office—Friday night being a non-subscription evening at the auditorium.
47Congratulations to those responsible for the new plan which places at the disposal of everybody, the purchase of seats for grand opera at the nominal price of $1.00 per week for ten consecutive weeks.
49Another attractive feature of this year's subscription sale lies in the fact that first choice for seats in the new opera house next season will be given to this season's subscribers.
51According to the press department of the Chicago Civic Opera, every seat on the lower floor already is sold for the Saturday matinees and there remain only a few $4.00 balcony seats for this period. The $3.00 seats are all sold and immediate action is necessary to insure ownership of a less expensive seat. The demand for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night seats is unprecedented and this year Saturday night and Sunday matinee performances are being sold on a subscription basis.
53First Week of Goldman Band Concerts
55As reported in last week's Musical Courier, the first in the series of seventy free concerts planned for this summer by the Goldman Band was given on The Mall in Central Park on June 11 before a huge audience. An equally large gathering assembled at New York University the following evening for the opening concert on the Campus. Schubert's Marche Militaire, selections from Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, a Strauss waltz, and excerpts from Victor Herbert's Fortune Teller made up the printed program, to which it was necessary to give a number of encores. Del Staigers, cornetist, was the soloist and was accorded the same enthusiastic applause which was bestowed upon him at the first concert on the Mall.
57A march from Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe opened the program on the Mall on June 13, following which came the familiar William Tell overture of Rossini, Woodland Sketches by MacDowell, two movements from Haydn's Farewell Symphony, a Bach chorale and fugue, Strauss' (Continued on page 34)
59GENIA ZIELINSKA,
60coloratura soprano, whose busy season extends throughout June and July, and who is already booked for forty concerts for the coming season.
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