1940: Music

Pan-American.

An outstanding feature of the musical activities of the year 1940 was the important role assigned to music in the Good-Neighbor policy which the United States is cultivating with Latin America. South America played host to two of our symphony orchestras, and to various concert soloists, opera singers, lecturers, and musicologists from this country. We in turn welcomed composers, conductors and famous performers from Mexico and various countries of South America. The two American continents have had for the first time a real opportunity to become mutually acquainted with new composers, and with unfamiliar types of old and new music. Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba, Trinidad — each has become a new center of interest from the standpoint of music.

In April, in New York City, the Schola Cantorum under the direction of Hugh Ross gave an all-South American program which included the 'Sinfonía Biblica' by Juan José Castro of Argentina, 'Maracatu de Chico Rei' by Francisco Mignone, 'Pater Noster' by Burle Marx, and Choros No. 10 — 'Razga O Coracao' — by Hector Villa-Lobos. These composers are Brazilians.

In May, a survey of Mexican music from the days of the Aztecs to the present time was arranged by the eminent Mexican composer-conductor, Carlos Chavez, for a series of concerts given in combination with an exhibition of 'Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art' at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The first work performed, 'Xochipili-Macuilxochitl,' was composed by Chavez, in an attempt to recapture the Aztec idiom in the musical material and through the use of primitive Aztec instruments, and a variety of rattles, drums, and Aztec flutes. Other pieces included in the programs were a Marcha, Vals, and Cancion, 'La Paloma Azul' and two dances from 'Los Cuatro Soles,' all composed or arranged for chorus and orchestra by Chavez. The Yaqui music, arranged for orchestra by Luis Sandi, was an adaptation of authentic primitive material; the Yaquis are a tribe still living in Lower California. The eighteenth century was represented by a Mass by Don José Aldana, recently discovered in the archives of the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, and arranged for orchestra and chorus for this performance by Candelario Huizar. 'Sones Mariachi' arranged for orchestra by Blas Galindo, 'Huapangos' arranged for orchestra by Geronimo Baqueiro, and the popular 'Corridos Mexicanos' arranged for chorus and orchestra by Vicente Mendoza completed the programs which were given afternoon and evening for two weeks. Eduardo Hernandez Moncada, an eminent Mexican musical authority, assisted Chavez as conductor.

In October, three programs of Brazilian music were given under the auspices of the Museum of Modern Art and the Commissioner-general from Brazil to the New York World's Fair, Dr. Armando Vidal. These were conducted by Burle Marx, Brazilian composer, and Hugh Ross of the Schola Cantorum, and enlisted the aid of famous Brazilian musicians and other soloists. The programs aimed to give a general picture of the music of Brazil, including folk songs arranged by Luciano Gallet, popular and voodoo songs, various examples of the 'choros' (a Brazilian serenade) played by Romeo Silva and his band. One program was made up entirely of works of Villa-Lobos.

Among other opportunities to hear South American music may be mentioned the program of North and South American music arranged by the League of Composers, which included Brazilian folk music of Spanish and Indian derivation as well as works by Villa-Lobos; and one of the programs of the Three-Choir Festival given in April at Temple Emanu-El in New York, which featured works by Jacobo Ficher and Honorio Siccardi of Argentina, by Andres Sas of Peru, and by Armando Carvajal of Chile.

Lazare Saminsky who directed the Three-Choir Festival also toured South America, where he lectured on 'Folk Song in the United States and its Music Today' under the auspices of the universities of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. In the latter city, he conducted the Orquesta Sinfonica in an all-American program consisting of Roy Harris's Third Symphony and works by Deems Taylor, Emerson Whithorne, Robert McBride, and Bernard Rogers, as well as one of his own works.

Most imposing among the musical exports from the United States to South America were the concert tours of the Symphony Orchestra of the National Broadcasting Company conducted by Arturo Toscanini, and of the All-American Youth Symphony Orchestra led by Leopold Stokowski. Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra sailed for South America on May 31 and returned on July 22. Sixteen concerts were given in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

The Youth Orchestra, quite apart from its tour, was in itself a novel experiment. At the beginning of the year, the National Youth Administration received fifteen thousand applications for the one hundred available positions of the orchestra. The applicants from every state in the Union were Americans between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. Of this vast number, 560 were chosen to be heard by Stokowski, who pointed out later that the states with the greatest amount of unusual talent were New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and California. The final group was selected in March, and gathered afterwards at a camp in Atlantic City for rehearsals. The first concert was given July 4 at Washington, D. C., and then the orchestra proceeded to Havana, Cuba; Curaçao, Dutch West Indies; Caracas, Venezuela; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires and Rosario, Argentina; Bahia, Brazil; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Cuidad Trujillo, Dominican Republic, and back to New York City.

European Musicians in the United States.

Conditions in Europe continue to send an increasing number of eminent musicians to the Americas. Among European musicologists and composers who have found places on the faculties of various music schools and colleges in the United States are the following: Alfred Einstein at Smith College; Ernst Krenek at Vassar College; Darius Milhaud at Mills College; Paul Hindemith at Yale; Ernst Toch at the University of Southern California; and Dragan Plamenac, at the St. Louis Institute of Music. The contributions of such men in furthering musical life in America, and their influence on the development of musical scholarship in this country, are to be greatly valued.

The League of Composers.

The League sponsored a concert and reception in February to four European composers now resident in the United States: Paul Dessau, Karol Rathaus, Stefan Wolpe and Alexander von Zemlinsky. In April, Bela Bartok was honored under the same auspices with a concert of his works, and in December the League tendered a similar welcome to Darius Milhaud. The League continued in 1940 its support of American composers, presenting in various concerts and broadcasts, works by Charles Ives, Walter Piston, Randall Thompson, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions, Bernard Wagenaar, Marion Bauer, Norman Cazden, Quincy Porter, Arthur Roberts, Everett Helm, and William Schuman. Two recitals were devoted to new music by young Americans, including Harold Shapiro, Robert Palmer, Bernhard Heiden, Rudolf Revil, Donald Fuller, Conlon Nancarrow, David van Vactor and John Colman.

Publishing and Publicity.

That the American composers have taken to heart the adage about helping themselves is evident in the character of such recent organizations as the American Music Center and the Arrow Press. The Center, a non-commercial enterprise with headquarters in New York City, will endeavor to make the works of American composers more easily available to conductors, artists, students and the general public. Both published and recorded music in the native field will be kept on hand for distribution and display. It is organized under the auspices of the Council for the Advancement and Diffusion of American Music, the committee consisting of Otto Luening, chairman, Quincy Porter, Howard Hanson, Marion Bauer and Aaron Copland. As a reference bureau the Center will supply data on prices, publishers, the playing time of compositions, new developments in music and information about important books relating to American music. It is planning the additional service of a manuscript rental library of orchestral music.

The Arrow Press is a cooperative and non-profit making publishing company. Lehman Engel is the president, Mare Blitzstein and Virgil Thomson, vice-presidents, and Aaron Copland, secretary-treasurer. The Arrow Press will defray half the cost of publishing a composition, the other half to come from the composer. The proceeds of sales and performance fees are to be divided ninety per cent to the composer and ten per cent to the Arrow Press. The enterprise has leased the complete list of the publications of the former Cos Cob Press consisting of thirty compositions.

WPA Federal Music Project.

In spite of the decrease in Federal aid to the WPA Federal Music Project, the Composers Laboratory Forum continues to function under these auspices. Earl Vincent Moore, national director of the WPA music project, reports that a total of 7,332 American compositions havebeen performed under the project's direction since its inception (1935). These pieces were composed by 2,258 native American or resident composers from Colonial and Revolutionary days to the present time. Of the above total, 1,297 composers are living today.

Orchestras and American Music.

A comprehensive and interesting survey of modern works played by the principal orchestras of the United States during the 1939-40 season was published by Olin Downes, in The New York Times, on May 5, 1940. This showed that the American composer did not fare as badly on this score as chronic complainers are apt to insist.

A grant from the Carnegie Foundation of New York to Margaret Grant and Herman S. Hettinger made possible a survey which resulted in an interesting book recently published, entitled 'American Symphony Orchestras and How They Are Supported.' The authors trace the remarkable increase in the number of orchestral organizations, showing that between 1900 and 1940 the number of major orchestras has been almost tripled — from 6 to 16; that the total number of orchestral organizations may now be estimated at about 300, four-fifths of them formed since 1919 and half of these since 1929.

Opera.

Although the growth in interest has by no means been as spectacular in the operatic field as in the orchestral, there have been recent evidences that the public is increasingly willing and eager to give its support to opera. When the Metropolitan Opera Company began its successful drive for $1,000,000 in order to purchase the opera house from the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, an appeal was made to the radio audience for contributions. The response of this audience was a total contribution of $327,000, representing 152,000 listeners.

The tour of the Metropolitan Opera continues to cover a wide area, the cities now included being Baltimore, Rochester, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta. Evidence even more convincing, however, is found in the successful season of the Chicago Opera Company, and in the organization of new opera companies such as the Philadelphia Opera, with Sylvan Levin as music director and Hans Wohlmuth as stage director. Another new company, the Southern California Company, gave its performances in English under the direction of Vladimir Rosing assisted by Mme. Villiers-Graf, and conducted by Albert Coates. Their repertoire included a new opera 'Gainsborough' by Coates. The University of Washington Lyric Theatre at Seattle, Washington, began its existence in January 1940. This new group's esthetic program is to present intimate classic opera with a modern approach, and in English. The director is Ernst E. Gebert. November brought news of still another new opera company organized in Trenton, New Jersey, under the direction of Michael Kuttner. Also in November, the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research in New York, opened an opera studio under the supervision of Erich Leinsdorf, Georg Szell, Joseph Turnan and Herbert Graf. Opera at low admission prices for children is one concern of Junior Programs Inc. Mrs. Dorothy L. McFadden reports that 558 performances were given in 220 communities in the United States and Canada to an audience totaling 1,000,000 children. The repertoire includes 'Hansel and Gretel' by Humperdinck, 'The Bumble Bee Prince' by Rimsky-Korsakoff, and 'Jack and the Bean Stalk' by Erskine and Gruenberg.

Festivals.

The established annual music festivals took place in 1940, including the National Folk Festival in April at Washington, D. C., the Ann Arbor May Festival at the University of Michigan, the Cincinnati May Festival, The Three Choirs Festival in April in New York, the Eastman American Music Festival in April in Rochester, New York, and the Worcester Festival in October. The sixth annual festival at Columbia, South Carolina, ended with a concert performance of Verdi's 'Aida.' The Berkshire Symphony Festival took place at Stock-bridge, Massachusetts, during three weeks in August. In July, the Berkshire Music Center began its first season, offering special training in conducting, composition, orchestral and ensemble playing, operatic interpretation and choral singing.

Festivals devoted entirely to the works of Bach were held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as usual; in New York, where the Bach Circle gave the first complete performance there of 'The Musical Offering'; Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio; at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (The Wyoming Valley Bach Festival); The Longy School, Cambridge, Massachusetts; at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Utica, New York; Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

The ninth annual Coolidge Festival of Chamber Music was held in April in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. At Williamsburg, Virginia, two festivals, the first in April, the second in November, under the direction of Ralph Kirkpatrick, featured eighteenth-century chamber music, and songs selected to portray the tastes of musically-minded citizens of Williamsburg in colonial days. Mozart Festivals were held at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, and at the Cape Cod Institute of Music at East Brewster, Massachusetts.

The Yaddo Music Period in September at Saratoga, New York, presented thirty-eight works by thirty-six composers, all Americans but one. The first summer festival of the Bennington School of the Arts included a program of contemporary music under the direction of Otto Luening. The second annual Intercollegiate Music Guild Festival was held at Bennington College in Vermont in April. A four-day American Music Festival was held by the New York Federation of Music Clubs in connection with its twelfth biennial convention in May in New York. At Central City, Colorado, famous old mining camp, a three weeks run of Smetana's opera 'The Bartered Bride' produced in English by Frank St. Leger, constituted the ninth annual play festival.

Film Scores.

Whatever reservations composers and the public may have about film music, there is no doubt that both have become more interested in and more intelligent about the problems which it presents. The public is listening with more discrimination to film scores; the composer sees a real future in them. In 1940 for the first time, a musical score was cited in the Academy Award. Richard Hageman was the winner of this citation for his score for 'Stagecoach.' Other 1940 film scores worthy of mention were Louis Gruenberg's for 'Fight for Life,' a documentary film directed by Paré Lorentz; Aaron Copland's scores for 'Our Town' and 'Of Mice and Men,' Ernst Toch's for 'The Cat and the Canary,' Douglas Moore's score for 'Power and the Land' and Revueltas' music for 'Redes' (The Wave). The most controversial film of the year for both movie critics and music critics was the Disney-Stokowski experiment 'Fantasia.'

Broadcasts.

Radio continues to increase the quantity and to improve the quality of its musical programs. Outstanding among the music broadcasts of 1940 were the Metropolitan Opera Company Saturday afternoon series of operas, the concerts of the National Broadcasting Company Symphony Orchestra directed by Toscanini and guest conductors, the WOR Sinfonietta Concerts and the series of Mozart Operas, both directed by Alfred Wallenstein, the scope, variety and high standard of the broadcasts of Station WQXR, and the recorded programs of WNYC. Special mention must be made also of WNYC's ten-day 'American Music Festival' given under the auspices of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors. Instrumental, choral and vocal works including excerpts from American operas were presented in about thirty different programs. One program was devoted to works of Europeans now resident in the United States — Schönberg, von Zemlinsky, Eisler and Krenek. Among the Americans represented were Riegger, Joio, Gould, Haufreucht, Earl Robinson, Randall Thompson, Copland, Harris, Diamond, Brant, Bowles, Dukelsky, Schuman, Joseph Wagner, Allen, Hadley, Weisse, Wagenaar, Castellini, Gruenberg, Damrosch, Taylor, Moore.

The year 1940 closed in the midst of a curious controversy affecting music used in the broadcasting industry of the country. In the face of demands for an increase in royalties to be paid for the use of music written by those composers who belong to ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (about 1,170 members), the broadcasting industry organized an opposing group, Broadcast Music, Inc., to supply radio's own musical needs. Within a short time the new organization gathered a catalogue of available music and put to work about one hundred arrangers to prepare special versions for orchestral and vocal performances. Unless a compromise is reached between ASCAP and BMI, the music of many contemporary American composers of both popular and serious music will no longer be heard on the air.

Records.

If radio may be regarded as one force in democratizing music, recordings may be regarded as a second. Thousands of people have begun to build record libraries. Additional stimulus was provided this year by the distributing scheme inaugurated by the National Committee for Music Appreciation; and the slashing of prices by the major recording companies.

Library of Congress Music Division.

The report of the Music Division of the Library of Congress makes one aware of the wealth of material which has been accumulated in the comparatively short period which has elapsed since the collection was begun in 1897. It now has the world's foremost collection of American musicana and of domestic and foreign opera librettos, and contains probably the most remarkable assemblage of manuscripts of the work of living composers to be found anywhere. During the year, the Division presented ninety concerts, thirty-seven of them in the Coolidge auditorium. One of the most interesting activities of the Division is the Archive of American Folk Song. This developed in 1936 as an offshoot of a project begun by the WPA Historical Records Survey and the Federal Writers project. The Archive comprises over 20,000 items of American folk music, representing most of the types of tunes to be found within the forty-eight states. In April 1940, the Music Division announced the receipt of a Carnegie gift of $41,000. The installation of a complete sound laboratory for duplicating phonograph records of all types, as well as the installation of a broadcasting apparatus and the purchase of a sound truck and six portable sound recorders are made possible by the gift.

Europe.

In Europe, under war conditions, the greatest musical activity centered in Switzerland. Honegger's new choral work 'La Danse des Morts,' with text by Paul Claudel, had its première at Basle in the spring. Important performances of contemporary music were given at concerts in Geneva. Basle and Lausanne, and many new works were broadcast.

In Paris, the last performance at the Opera before the German occupation was Milhaud's 'Médée.'

In London, the National Gallery Lunch Hour Concerts inaugurated by Myra Hess were given daily all through the year. During the intense bombing periods, they moved from the Gallery to the bombproof shelter below and continued to be well attended. All through the spring season, opera in English was given at Sadlers Wells; Sir Thomas Beecham, Basil Cameron, and Felix Weingartner conducted orchestral concerts. The Contemporary Music Center of London gave three programs of modern music. The Society for Cultural Relations between the Peoples of Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. gave a concert of works by Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Miaskovsky. In the late fall the same society gave a second concert of music by Miaskovsky, Alexander Krein, Glinka and Tchaikowsky.

Finland celebrated the seventy-fifth birthday of her great composer Sibelius, on Dec. 8, 1940, with several concerts of his works. At Stockholm, the opera 'Amelia Goes to the Ball' by the American composer, Gian Carlo-Menotti had a successful performance at the Royal Stockholm Opera. The same composer's radio opera, 'The Old Maid and the Thief,' had its first European performance and broadcast from the Stockholm radio station.