Evening Star Newspaper, September 5, 1936, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON,. D. C, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1936. B3 NATIONAL SYMPHONY PREPARES FOR BRILLIANT SEASON ITS FUTURE IS NOW ASSURED Summer Concerts Association Gracefully Yields Stage as Dr. Kindler’s Organization Announces Elaborate Plans, Which Include Presentation of Famous Artists. By Katharine Brooks. HE National Symphony Orches- tra, Dr. Hans Kindler con- ductor, will give its first con- cert of the 1936-7 season Bunday afternoon, October 25, in Con- stitution Hall. And on the same day that the National Symphony Orches- tra Association stated its plans for the coming season the Washington Sum- mer Concerts Association announced its final concert of the Water Gate Symphony Orchestra for tomorrow evening, with Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff conducting. Neither organziation made any ref- erence to the recent apparent dead- lock between the National Symphony and the local Musicians’ Union. Since an agreement was reached, and Wash- ington will have its own symphony, what does it matter which side gave in? The important thing to Wash- ington is that there will be a continua- tion of the National Symphony Or- chestra, which has made such prog- ress in the last five or six years. ‘There always have been players here of ability, who, when organized and conducted by a musician of the proper acholarship, would have developed into an orchestra of the first rank. But until the organization of the Na- tional Symphony Orchestra Associa- tion five years ago, such an organiza- tion, with enough money to carry it, never had been accomplished. BEPDRE the organization of the National Symphony Orchestra As- sociation, members of the present orchestra, who also formed a majority of the members of the Water Gate Symphony this Summer, had banded together to form a symphony orches- tra based on a co-operative plan, such a plan as was carried out by the Washington Summer Concerts As- sociation this year. Following the one or two concerts which this group gave with guest conductors, a move- ment was started to establish the present National Symphony Orchestra Association. Through the efforts of Frank J. Frost, musical philanthropist, the movement gained momentum and has been successfully carried through by Dr. Kindler and the large group of wealthy and socially prominent men and women whose interest he has been able to gain and keep. ‘The National Symphony Orchestra, Music Notes. ELEN WARE, well known violinist, who is Mré. C. C. Cappel, wife of the manager of the National Sym- phony Orchestra, will return next week from their cottage near Wilmington, Mrs. Cappel went there a few weeks ago with her children, after they had had several weeks' motor trip to Maine with Mr. Cappel. Mrs. Hugo Hesselbach, prominent for many years as Alice Burbage, pianist, and now president of the ‘Washington Music Teachers’ Associa- tion, is spending some time with Mr. Hesselbach at the Biltmore Forest Country Club, at Biltmore, N. C. They will return the middle of the month. Gertrude Nash spent several days in town this week for the concerts at the Water Gate and will return to her cottage at Rehoboth Beach, to remain until the end of September. ‘Walter Nash has been in Washing- ton much of the Summer, continuing his work as organist and choir master | ©f St. Alban's Church. Mr. and Mrs. Nash were hosts ‘Thursday evening after the Water Gate concert at an informal supper in honor of Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff who conducted the orchestra that evening. Charlotte Klein, organist, and Inez B. Miller, soprano, hawe, returned from a cruise to the Gaspe country, Quebec, and Bermuda, and tomorrow will resume their duties at St Mar- garet's Church. Mrs. R. H. Pratt was in charge of the music at St. Margaret's during Miss Klein's absence. Eugene Kressin, baritone, will sing Van der Waters’ “The Penitent” and James H. Rogers' “Rend Your Hearts, but Not Your Garments” tomorrow morning in the Mount Pleasant Con- gregational Church. The service will be the last Summer union service, with All Souls’ Unitarian Church and the Universalist National Memorial Church participating. Claude Robe- son, organist of the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church, will be at the ergan. Warren F. Johnson, organist, will play “Elegiac Poem,” opus 108, by Karg-Elert, and “Consolation,” “Hap- piness,” “To the End,” from *Lyrical Pieces,” opus 10, by Paul Krause, before the evening service at the Church of the Pilgrims tomorrow G evening. Setvice Bands CONCERTS by the several service bands in Washington next week will be many and varied. The United Btates Navy Band will play at the Naval Hospital Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and the student musicians of the United States Navy School of Music will give a concert Wednesday evening at the band stand in the Navy Yard. Bandmaster James M. ‘Thurmond, jr., will conduct and the program will include: March, “Eldo- rado,” Herbert; overture, ‘“Leonore (No. 3),” Beethoven; march, “Co- mairons,” Benter; solo for cornet, “Bridge of the Waves,” Clark; “Sere- nade,” Schubert; march, “Fairest of the Fair,” Sousa, and the national anthem. The schedule of the United States Army Band, Capt. Thomas F. Darcy, leader, includes concerts to be given Monday in the Army Band audi- torium, 5 p.m.; Tuesday, at the Army Medical Center, Walter Reed Hospi- tal, 6:30 p.m.; Thursday, at the Tu- berculosis Hospital, 6:30 p.m., and Priday, September 11, at the Capitol, 7:30 pm. ‘The activities of the United States Marine Band for the coming week will include: Tuesday, at 5 p.m., Sun- day Dress Parade at the Marine Bar- racks; Wednesday, at 2 p.m., Shut- Ins' Dream Hour concert in the audi- torium at the Marine Barracks, and at 7:30 p.m., concert at the United States Capitol, and at 9 p.m., the band will take part in the concert on the Esplanade of the Pan-Ameri- can Union, for which Dr. L. 8. Rowe has issued invitations. ‘The concerts will be under the lead- PEGGY KELLY, Who will open her own studio of the dance the middle of this month. She has been head of the stage department in Leroy H. Thayer’s dance studio for some time. —Hessler Studio Photo. with Dr. Kindler as conductor, will give 30 concerts this Winter and an additional 30 concerts in other cities from Jacksonville, Fla, to Ottawa, Canada. In Washington they will All-Russian ‘Closing for Orchestra Summer Season End Has Sokoloff as Guest Leader. HE last concert of the first sea- | son of the Washington Sum- | mer Concerts’ Association will be given tomorrow evening when the Water Gate Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff, who conducted the | concert last evening and the one | Thursday evening. The season has been successful in the artistic standard of the programs, |and in the interest aroused and maintained through extreme heat, as well as threatening weather. The orchestra has developed and molded |into better ensemble during the | seven weeks of work under the dif- | | ferent conductors, all of them good and some of them outstanding. The programs were representative of the very best in musical literature. Four Beethoven symphonies, two of the Strauss tone poems, two Tschai- kowsky symphonies, the Franck D minor symphony, the Dvorak sym- | phony “From the New World,” all these and many other master works were performed by one orchestra dur- ing this past Summer. Of these works, 36 were compositions that had not | been given by a Washington sym- | phony orchestra during the past six years. ‘The conductors were, without ex- ception, an inspiration to the mem- bers of the orchestra and to the au- dience listening to symphonic music in what has been described as the most beautifu] site for Summer con- certs in this country. The concerts through the Summer were undertaken on a co-oparative basis, the personnel being much the same as that of the National Sym- phony Orchestra of last Winter, and they will resume their places in the latter organization for the coming Winter. The program at the Water Gate tomorrow evening, which Dr. Sokoloff will conduct, will be all-Russian music and will include “Introduction and March” from “Le Coq d’Or,” Rimsky- Korsakoff; Symphony No. 6, known as the “Pathetique,” Tschaikowsky; Poovetzian dances from “Prince Igor,” Borodin; introduction to “Khovanchino,” Moussorgsky, and sailors’ dance from “The Red Poppy,” Kliere. & Martinelli Changes Date. IOVANNI MARTINELLI, famois tenor of the Metropolitan Opera, has changed the date of his appear- ance in Washington in the Beren- Brook artists series and will give his recital in Constitution Hall Friday evening, October 9, the concert having been first scheduled for October 12 His appearance in Washington will be the first in eight years, and will be his first concert of the 1936-7 season, as he will arrive in New York a few days before. Mr. Martinelli spent the Summer in Italy and immediately after his concert here he will go to San Francisco to open the opera season there. Reservations for his recital October 9 are being received at the Kitt Music Store on G street and the tickets will be ready September 15. Mrs. Bowie to Sing. ARY SHERIER BOWIE will be the soloist for the morning serv- ice tomorrow at the National Baptist Church. She will sing “Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace,” by Oley Speaks. Marguerite Allen Ross. will be at the organ. —e. ership of Capt. Taylor Branson, leader of the United States Marine Band. The United States Soldiers’ Home Band, John 8. M. Zimmerman, band- master, and Anton Pointer, assistant bandmaster, will give concerts Tues- day, Thursday and Saturday evenings, at 7 o'clock, in the bandstand at the Soldiers’ Home. ’ give 12 Sunday afternoon concerts, eight Wednesday concerts, four in the evening and four in the after- noon, all of them in Constitution Hall, In addition, there will be the 10 stu- dents’ concerts which have aroused 80 much interest-and given enjoyment’ not only among the young, but among the older music lovers. DR KINDLER spent the early part of the Summer abroad, and brought back with him interesting new material for the orchestra this Winter. Wednesday, November 11, the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet will be presented by the Orchestra Association and it will be the first time the dancers will have appeared in Washington with & symphony orchestra. Their program will include a performance of the Brahms “Symphony, No. 4,” which alone would make the concert out- standing. Tito Schipa, tenor, who recently re- turned to this country from a success- ful year in Italy, will be the soloist at one of the early concerts. Guimar Novaes, brilliant Brazilian pianist, will be the soloist November 4: Lotte Lehman, one of the great sopranos of today, will sing with the orchestra November 16. Joseph Szigeti, famous Hungarian violinist, who was received sensationally in other music centers last year, will make his debut here With the National Symphony Orchestra January 20, and George Gershwin, pianist-composer, will be the soloist March 17. Others who will appear with the orchestra include Bianca Renard, Latin American pianist;: Wini- fred Cecil, American soprano of radio and concert fame; Jacqueline Solo- mons, sensational young French vio- linist, and Roman Totenberg, the Polish violinist, who made many friends here last Fall. AN ALL-BEETHOVEN program will be one of the orchestra’s presen- tations in Washington. Harold Bauer, pianist, has been engaged as the solo- ist, and the Choral Soclety of the | George Washington University and the orchestra, conducted by Dr. Kind- ler, will give the choral fantasy. In addition there wili be Myra Hess, pianist, and Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson, duo pianists. Reservations for season tickets are being Teceived in the office of the Na- tional Symphony Association, room 1113 of the Woodward Building, and C. C. Cappel, manager of the or- chestra, already has more of these reservations than he had at this time last season. showing the growth in popularity of the orchestra and the desire of the public to retain its own organization. Quartet Is on Tour. TI-IE National String Quartet, com- posed of Milton Schwartz, first violin; Paul Brightenburg, violin; George Wargo, viola, and Howard Mitchell, "cello, is making its annual tour of North Shore resorts and on Cape Cod. The members of the quartet, who are members of the National Symphony Orchestra, and have played with the Watergate Symphony through the Summer, left a week ago and will not return until the end of the month. —_— Y. W. C. A. Music Dept. MRS. EDWIN B. PARKER again is chairman of the music depart- ment of the Y. W. C. A, with Mary M. Burnett director, and plans for th»| Winter season are already under way Each Sunday afternoon at 5 o'clock an hour of music is given at the Y. W. C. at Seventeenth and K streets, the musicians contributing their services. The Girl Reserve Glee Club meets weekly and is composed of members of senior high school Girl Reserve | Clube. Artists 1 second | Corcoran Gallery of Art. Latin Music To Be Given OnThursday| Marine Band to Play, With Lyric Tenor From Mexico. HE third and last of this sea- son’s alfresco concerts at the Pan-American Union will be given Thursday evening on the esplanade at 9 o'clock, Dr. Leo| S. Rowe, director general of the union, acting as host. The program of Latin American music will be given by the | United States Marine Band, Capt. Taylor Branson leading, with Fran- cisco Tortolero, lyric tenor of Mexico, as the soloist. Forty-five minutes of | the program, 9:15 to 10 p.m., in addi- | tion to being broadcast in this country | will be sent to all the republics of the | American Continent by the short | i,sutlom, | PFrancisco Tortolero, the assisting | artist, is a native of Mexico and this | will be his second appearance in Washington on a Pan-American pro- gram, having sung here two years ago. Mr. Tortolero made his debut with the Impulsura Opera of Mexico, where | he remained two years. In the suc- | ceeding six years he was with the | Bracale Opera Co, touring South America, and later apeared as soloist with Torreblanca’s Mexican Tipica and Lerdo de Tejada's Orchestra’s on their tours of the United States. He then sang with the Chicago Civic | Opera, the San Carlo Opera, the Hip- | podrome Opera Co. of New York and also made numerous concert tours. He is at present appearing with the Chi- cago Civic Opera Co. Senor Tortolero will sing three groups of Latin American selections and will be accompanied by the United States Marine Band in two of these groups. Capt. Branson has selected a num- ber of outstanding compositions by composers from the republics to the south and instrumental solos by mem- bers of the band will include a “Fan- | tasia for Flute,” by Federico S. Villena of Venezuela, which will be played by Musician Luis Guzman; a violin solo by Musician Albert Schoepper entitled “Scherzando Appassionato,” by Her- nan Bemberg of Argentina, and a xylophone duet with vibraphone obbli- gato by Musicians Charles Owen and Oliver Zinsmeister entitled “Amor de | Munecos,” by Manuel Valenzuela of Chile. ‘The year 1936 marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Carlos Gomes, the great Brazilian composer, and in honor of this centenary, Capt. Branson will include a selection from Gomes’ opera “O Escravo” and Senor Tortolero will sing an aria entitled “Forma Sublime,” from Gomes' opera “Salvador Rosa,” in honor of the occasion. “Mother and Child,” by George de Forest Brush, included in the permanent collection of the —Photo by Lewis P. Woltz. Howes Made Director at | Choirmaster Comes y e From St. Paul’s in Philadelphia. RTHUR WELLESLEY HOWES, for several years organist and A choirmaster of St. Paul's Church in Chestnut Hills, Philadelphia, has been appointed to fill & similar position at old St. John's Episcopal Church, Sixteenth and H streets. Mr. Howes was in Washing- | ton this week, searching for a place | to live, although he will not take up his work at historic St. John's until | the first of October. He and Mrs. Howes will come to Washington later |in the month, to establish themselves for the Winter. Mr. Howes will succeed T. Guy the music at St. John's for some years, | having come here from England dur- ing the rectorship of the late Dr. Robert Johnston. Mr. Lucas, with | Mrs. Lucas and his two children, Pa- tricia and Peter, have spent August |at Upperville, Va.,, and are expected to remain there through this month, Mr. Lucas’ leave from St. John's hav- lmg been extended. Active in Music in National Capital Francisco Tortolero, Mezican tenor, who will sing Thursday at the final al fresco concert this season at the Pan-American Union, assisting the United States Marine Branson conducting. 2% Dr. \Hsum Kindler, who. returns to Ny Orchestra, of the cc ] complete ns for the which will pfu ucmnt !eom:m —Harris-Ewing Photo. St. John's Lucas, who has been in charge of | RICH ART IN CHILD George de Forest Brush Won His Place Among Successful Painters With Home Beauty and Indian Lore. By Leila Mechlin. OTHER AND CHILD,” by George de Forest Brush, in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, is not only this distinguished painter's masterpiece, but one of the finest paintings pro- duced in America. It was acquired by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in| 1902, shortly after it was painted. This date is verified by a memo- randum in the writer’s files, which reads: “If you will go to the Corcoran Gallery on receipt of this, I think you can find the subject for an art note in a fine painting by De Forest Brush, just acquired. 8. H. K.” The initials were those of Mr. 8. H. Kauffmann, at that time president of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and also of The Eve- ning Star. The purchase was, in- deed, & notable one. The painting today, as adjudged at the time of purchase, more than 34 years ago, is outstanding. ‘The subjects of this now famous canvas are the wife and child of the artist. Mrs. Brush before her mar- riage was an art student, but laid aside her painting for the all-absorb- ing “profession” of wife and mother. Mr. Brush painted her with their| children again, but never quite so| personally and realistically as in this instance. There is a great deal of quiet dignity | in the presentation of the mother in this painting; thought and character have moulded the features, and are seen in’ the expression. The way she holds the child indicates its weight hand painted more significantly. And what a splendid specimen of baby- hood it is that she holds on her arm! 1 ‘The chubby cheeks are almost as rosy | as the apple, clutched in the little | fist. The eyes match the mother’s. No attempt has been made to cre- and her tenderness. Never was & | ate in this painting a modern Ma- | donna; it is a straightforward piece | of portrait painting, and one reads into it merely that significance which | life, fully lived, possesses. This is| true of the great works of portraiture the world over, and it is this which gives them enduring worth. Merely | to preserve a likeness of features, to tell how a person looked upon a given occasion, is not enough: the person must appear to live, to be a sensient entity, capzble of thought as well as | of action, if the great end of portrai- | ture is to be achieved. It is because the portraits of Rembrandt and Rae- burn satisfy these requirements that we stand before them today in pro- found conviction concerning their truth and in amazed admiration. TH!SE “painted people” live for us | today a# truly as for those among | whom they moved and had their | earthly existence. But, of course, this | result is not obtained by mere skill in | | representation. Good d.rlfl.smAn&!up;l | and brushwork go a long way toward competence, but not the full distance. This painting is magnificently drawn and painted, but its supremacy as a work of art lies in its conception and the manner of transcription. The color scheme is delightful; light and | dark are well distributed as well as| balanced: the colors sing. the figures | | stand out, the surfaces are well ren- dered, but not meticulously; through- | out the entire performance there is evidence of sustained strength. The | present writer knows of no other pic- | | ture by George de Forest Brush so directly and forcefully painted. Brush | was & pupil of Gerome's and a devotee of the Italian school of the fifteenth centiry. He has painted exquisite pictures of mothers and children— but none such as this. George de Forest Brush was born in Shelbyville, Tenn., September 28, 1855, and is still living at the home he established for himself and his | family many years ago at Dublin, N. H. That he should have chosen Gerome as his master when he went to Paris to study is rather remark- able, for Brush has never been one to follow the crowd or to accept rules laid down by others. But perhaps as Caffin in an essay on Brush has sug- gested, this choice was a happy one, for Gerome, with all his objectivity, insisted upon good drawing and sound | technical performance from his stu- | dents, by which their feet were kept firmly on the ground, no matter how much their heads were in the clouds. And after all, it is only the me- chanics of art that can be taught. The rest one must learn for oneself by personal effort and inspiration. 'ERTAINLY Brush was not one to be lured by fashion, and when he returned to this country after his student days abroad he went directly West in search of the typically Amer- jcan and set himself to painting pic- tures of Indian life. It may seem a wide step from the studio of Gerothe, from which issued such paintings by the masters as “Caesar Dead” (Corcoran collection) and “Christian Martyrs” (Walters collection) to our Western plains and Indian pictures, but it was not really great nor il- logical. Brush's paintings are not actually objective but imaginative, a reincarnation of what might have occurred even before Rome reached her splendor. and they are in the manner prescribed and taught by this really great French teacher. But this is not to say that Brush did not put something of himself into these paint- ings, that they were not well done, that they did not have worth and dignity, for they did, and they still | do, but the master who produced “Mother and Child” had not yet found himself. ‘The contrast between these early pictures and this later work is strik- ing. Compare with the “Mother and Child” in the Corcoran Gallery of Art the “Moose Chase” in the Evans collection, National Gallery of Art. The latter pictures three Indians in & canoe pursuing & swimming moose. It is well composed and gravely painted, an interesting scene, but it does not possess any marked individu- ality or in the least stir the observer’s emotions. More dramatic and engaging are two of his other paintings of this period, “Mourning Her Brave” and “The Sculptor and the King.” The former pictures a squaw standing by MUSICAL INSTRUCTION. Veice %fi; .El.fi.‘ ny her dead in the snow, high up on & mountain side, uttering her dirge to a leaden sky. “What emptiness!” ex- claims Cafin, “and desolation of world without and spirit within.” The latter shows a young sculptor stand- ing before the work he has wrought, a wall sculpture, waiting and hoping for the commendation of his ruler, to him supreme. In this as in the for- mer there is a sense of spaciousness as well as of momentary tensity. The stories are well told, but as cssays, rather than scenes from life, they are literary rather than primarily artis- tic and théy are rendered without evident emotion, but very well. Brush undoubtedly felt the romance of Indian life and history and also through personal contact acquired re« spect for Indian character and dig- nity. His work, so inspired, stands be« tween the writings of Fenimore Cooper and the poetry of Longfellow. The Indian massacres, which occurred 50 much nearer the time he was paint- ing these pictures than ours, had no place in his art—instead it was the traits of courage and established order and custom that he set forth. It re- mained, alas, for contemporary -Amer= ican painters to offer as murals to decorate our public buildings paintings of Indians scalping, murdering and torturing white men, women and chil- dren, crossing the territory which they claim as their own, T IS interesting to recall how many American art students returned from abroad 40 or 50 years ago with the resolve to represent the Indian on canvas or in stone, Bush-Brown's first work, after getting back to New York, was the “Buffalo Hunt,” which he and others have hoped would be erected here in Rock Creek Park. J. Q. A. Ward's first important work in sculp- ture was the “Indian Hunter” with his dog, which is in Central Park, New York. “The Sun Vow,” by MacNeill, in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, was produced after a sojourn of some length in Rome and a study of an- tiquities. In these later days the story has been carried on, and especially fine paintings of Indians and Indian life been made by a group of painters liv- ing in or. spending a good part of the year in Taos, N. Mex., among whom mention may be made of Irving Couse, Walter Ufer, Ernest Blumenshein and Oscar Berninghaus. Through her por- traits of Indians our own local painter, Miss Catherine C. Critcher, has made enviable reputation But to return to Brush. 1t is not by his Indian paintings, but those of | mothers and children, that he will be longest remembered. With the excep- tion of the “Mother and Child” in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, these have been in the style of the Italian Renais- sance. Almost invariably the figures are much less than life size, but beautie fully drawn and exquisitely painted, idylls of domestic life, lovely to look upon and remember. Invariably these are of Mrs. Brush and her children. In one she is seen reclining in a garden chair, a small boy leaning interestedly and affectionately on the head rest; in another, an upright panel, she is seen as walking in a garden, leading a child by the hand. Almost always there 1s also a child in her arms. How the Renaissance painters would have rejoiced in these works, so rhythmical mn line, so good in composition, so rich in color and with such admirably rendering textures! And yet they are essentially of our own time. Texture is something which our modern painters disregard and yet of how great importance it is. Silk is not like wool or velvet, neither is cote ton like stone or wood. Each has its characteristic surface; why should this be disregarded in painting? And how alluring are certain textures, how irresistible to the touch, how pleas~ ing to the eye! A work of art that does not tempt the sense of feeling, the fingers, is not completely fulfilling its function. In this respect the paint- ings of George de Forest Brush ex- cel. They seem to be built up with a perfect impasto, not tossed off in & moment of inspiration. Notwithstand- ing the fact that Brush has all his life been a rebel against conventions, he, more than almost any other American painter, has emphasized the importance of sound knowledge and the value of technical proficiency. Never has he belittled his art or bee grudged it his best. “A charm so delicate as that found in the works of Brush,” Samuel Isham has said, “is only obtainable by a craftsmanship equally delicate and perfect. It is not alone for the sen- timent that the great art of Holbein, the Van Eycks or of Terburg is re- called. Their complete and calm mastery of their trade, with no trace of effort, of difficulties evaded, is not for our day, but Brush has something of their quality. His canvases seem to have been done with their unhurry- ing, absorbed labor. They have unity of sentiment and completeness of ren- dering—great beauty.” Armando Jannuzzi Grand Opera Dramatic Tenor Voice Specialist Italian Method Scool of bel canto. Dist. 1403 732 11th St. N.W. * Washington College of MUSIC 33rd Season OPENS SEPT. 8 1810 Conn. Ave. N.W. SCHOOL NEW TERM Sept. 15th REGISTER NOW ? 3 K Day and Evening Classes Children’s Saturday Class 1143 Conn. Ave. NA. 8054