1942: Music

Music and the War.

Throughout the year which saw the nation as a whole adjusting itself with extraordinary and incredible speed to the necessities of total war, musical activity showed no sign of decreasing but rather of increasing as the war effort itself intensified. At the very outset, musical organization and individual musicians united in expressing through words and deeds the importance of music in maintaining morale, both military and civilian, pledging themselves at the same time to participate in the struggle and to share in the sacrifice involved in it. In January, the Citizens' Committee for Government Arts Projects drew up a comprehensive program of the contributions which the various arts can make to the armed forces, to the USO and to civilian defense. The music section was drawn up after a meeting at the home of Dr. Walter Damrosch, in New York. It was composed of delegates from the following organizations: National Federation of Music Clubs; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; American Guild of Musical Artists; American Composers Alliance; National Association for American Composers and Conductors; Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians; and The National Music Teachers Association. The plan pointed out the use to be made of established WPA centers, agencies and the experienced personnel of the Music Project in arranging concerts for and by soldiers, sailors and marines, for defense workers, for the sale of Defense Bonds, for general recreation in a broad community sense. The June report of the New York WPA project showed that it was maintaining 516 workers in 18 concert and dance units which had given 446 performances including 81 for service men in military locations, 220 for service men in civilian locations and 92 for workers in war industries plants.

The National Music Council, incorporated in New York State in April 1940 and composed of 37 organizations nationally active in musical affairs, has been working in conjunction with the War Department since the fall of 1940. The Council is represented on the sub-committee for music of the Joint Army and Navy Committee for Welfare and Recreation by its president Edwin Hughes.

The organization known as USO-Camp Shows set up a separate concert division in charge of C. C. Cappel, and in a report issued in June revealed that it had sponsored 79 concerts for men in the armed forces in various parts of the country.

From Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, music educators joined with representatives of the Federal Government departments, industrial leaders and directors of community projects in a conference called in Cincinnati by the National Recreation Association for the purpose of determining ways and means for the more effective use of music in winning the war. The topics discussed included community singing, types of music most popular with men in uniform, music for workers in industry, music and morale.

A volunteer organization known as Records for Our Fighting Men, Inc., was formed with a committee consisting of Robert Darrell, Harry Futterman, David Hall and Douglas McKinnon who gave their advice and efforts for the collection of record libraries for military camps and stations in this country and in outlying posts.

Musicians in the Armed Forces.

Provision for musicians in the armed forces is still in process of formulation. The Navy has replacement centers both at the Great Lakes Training School, Chicago and the United States Navy School of Music in the Washington, D. C., Navy Yard. At the latter an intensive one-year course is provided which includes instrumental and choral training, ensemble playing and instruction in theory. Upon graduation the musicians are sent to ships and stations of the fleet where they join the 21 piece band units. Civilians who enlist as musicians in the Navy, the Marine Corps or the Air Corps may go directly into these schools. In the Army, however, all enlisted men must first receive their basic 13 weeks training before applying for admission to the Music School at Arlington, W. Va. In neither the Army nor the Navy may these men receive commissions as musicians; they may rise only to the rank of Warrant Officer. One of the outstanding developments in the army musical situation was the appointment of the first groups of music advisers in the Army Specialist Corps. The Corps itself was abolished on Oct. 31, but the work of the specialists will probably be carried on under regular Army supervision. The music advisers received a course of training at Fort Mead, Md., under Major Howard C. Bronson, Music Officer of the Special Service Division and were assigned to duty at camps and stations throughout the country.

Civilian Activities.

There is ample evidence that conditions growing out of war have given an impetus to musical life in many parts of the country. Concert halls announce record bookings. Boom times in industrial centres and business centres have created new and added demand for music, showing an increase which on the whole offsets the loss in those communities where gasoline rationing and tire difficulties seriously interfere with concert attendance. To the regular series of musical events are being added the various benefit concerts, the Victory Concerts already instituted in New York City, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and concerts to advance the sale of War Bonds and Stamps.

The most serious threat to future musical activity is the order of the War Production Board to discontinue the manufacture of musical instruments to save critical materials for war purposes.

War Compositions.

Among compositions by American composers, directly inspired by the events of the war, may be listed Harl McDonald's tone poem 'Bataan' dedicated to General MacArthur and his American and Philippine troops and the twenty-three fanfares written at the request of Eugene Goosens, director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra by the following composers: Wagenaar, Gould, Harris, Borowski, McDonald, Wm. Grant Still, Fuleihan, Creston, Hanson, Rogers, Taylor, Virgil Thomson, Piston, Bloch, Copland, Grainger, Milhaud, Sowerby, Thompson, Cowell, Kelley, D. G. Mason and Sessions. The most sensational publicity was accorded the Seventh symphony of the Russian composer, Dimitri Shostakovitch, a work which should be included in 'war' works. The first three movements of the symphony were composed in September 1941, before Shostakovitch left besieged Leningrad, the fourth movement which according to the composer celebrates the 'victory of light over darkness, of humanity over barbarism' was completed in Kuibyshev. The premiere of the work in the Western Hemisphere took place in a special NBC Symphony broadcast on July 19. The conductor was Arturo Toscanini.

American Federation of Musicians.

The organization, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor, made front-page news several times in the course of the year. In February, the long standing jurisdictional dispute between the AFM and the American Guild of Musical Artists, also an A. F. of L. union, was amicably settled and the law suit pending in the State Supreme Court was discontinued. The suit had been initiated to restrain the Federation from interfering with contracts of solo instrumentalists who were members of the Guild. Under the compromise agreement, the jurisdiction of the Federation over concert solo instrumentalists is recognized but the Guild retains its position as the artists' exclusive bargaining agency in the concert field. On June 8, James Caesar Petrillo, president of the AFM, announced at the national convention of the organization, meeting in Dallas, Texas, that effective Aug. 1, the union would ban the making of transcriptions or recordings by any member of the AFM for use in broadcasts or mechanical reproduction. Petrillo continued that the union would permit the making of records for home consumption, for the armed forces of the United States and its Allies and at the request of the President of the United States. On July 12, the National Broadcasting Company under pressure from Petrillo cancelled a broadcast by a high school orchestra of 160 boys and girls from the National Music Camp at Interlocken, Mich. Petrillo stated that the NBC have a closed shop agreement with the AFM and hence only professional musicians could appear on programs. On July 21, on union orders, an orchestra of army men was barred from playing at the opening of the Times Square Service Men's Center. On July 23, Attorney General Biddle authorized an Anti-Trust Injunction suit challenging the Union ban on the making of recordings and the Federal Communications Commission (James L. Fly, Chairman) started an investigation of the ban on the Interlocken broadcast, demanding a full statement of the facts. On July 28, Elmer Davis. Director of the Office of War Information, urged Petrillo to withdraw his ban on recordings pointing out that it would hinder the dissemination of vital war information by forcing small radio stations, whose existence depends in great part upon recorded music, to close. Petrillo rejected Davis' plea. On Oct. 12, after a hearing of the suit filed Aug. 3 and brought in a Chicago Federal Court by the United States Government, Judge John P. Barnes denied the Government's plea for an injunction restraining Petrillo from enforcing his ban against the making of recordings for radio use by members of the AFM. The court held the matter was essentially a labor dispute and a previous United States Supreme Court ruling had decreed 'that the anti-trust law, under certain conditions, does not apply to unions.' Assistant Attorney General Thurman W. Arnold, representing the government, said the decision would be appealed. In November, the Boston Symphony — which had been playing under open-shop conditions since 1881 — joined the AFM. Compromises with the union on matters pertaining to the orchestra's rights to engage players from other localities and unions, and the adjustment of rehearsal hours were effected. The orchestra immediately resumed its radio and recording engagements, banned for over a year.

League of Composers.

The League of Composers announced its 20th anniversary in a concert on Dec. 27 at which a program of works was presented specially written for the occasion by Roy Harris, Douglas Moore, Lazare Saminsky, Virgil Thomson and Bernard Wagenaar. The League was saluted in a special concert on Dec. 9 in the Town Hall Endowment Series for which works were specially written by Aaron Copland, Louis Gruenberg. Frederick Jacobi, Bohuslav Martinu, Darius Milhaud and Walter Piston. Two of the founder composers of the League were represented on these programs, Saminsky and Gruenberg.

In review, the objectives and achievements of the League may be classified under three headings: (1) contact with and promotion of modern European music, (2) development of the American school, (3) promotion of serious musical effort in all branches of creative work. In the past twenty years the League has presented a sum total of 800 works by contemporary composers, more than half of this number being by composers resident in America. The third objective is realized in a variety of fields, such as the presentation of radio programs of contemporary music, in some cases music specially composed for radio, review concerts of music for the movies, a special series of recordings of contemporary music and the newest and most ambitious project, the 'Composers' Theatre' which aims to provide by means of special commissions a repertoire of chamber opera in English. Two of these works had their premieres during the year: Randall Thompson's opera 'Solomon and Balkis,' the libretto based on Kipling's story 'The Butterfly That Stamped,' broadcast by CBC in March and performed at Harvard University in April, and 'A Tree on the Plains,' music by Ernst Bacon, libretto by Paul Horgan, first performed in May in the Spartansburg (S. C.) Music Festival at Converse College.

Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera during its 1941-42 seasons presented two works new to the repertoire. 'The Island God' by Gian Carlo Menotti and Bach's comic cantata 'Phoebus and Pan' (both sung in English). The spring tour of the company included the cities of Hartford, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Bloomington, Indiana (University of Indiana), Dallas, Birmingham, Atlanta and Richmond.

The New Opera Company of New York in its second season presented Walter Damrosch's 'The Opera Cloak,' Moussorgsky's 'The Fair at Soretchinsi,' Tschaikowsky's 'Pique Dame,' Verdi's 'Macbeth' and 'La Vie Parisienne' of Offenbach. Its production of 'The Bat' (Johann Strauss) ran as a musical show on Broadway under the title 'Rosalinda.'

Festivals.

Among annual festivals, the 19th of the International Society of Contemporary Music held August 1-9, at the University of California, in Berkeley, stirred unusual interest. The committee selected works by 33 composers from about 400 entries. All the participants in the concerts donated their services, including three orchestras, the Budapest String Quartet and 18 solo and ensemble artists. At two of the concerts music not entered in the competition was heard from three eminent composers now residents of California: Milhaud, Bloch and Schoenberg.

Annual Bach Festivals were held at Bethlehem, Pa. (35th), Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory at Berea, Ohio (10th), Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. (8th), Philadelphia, at St. James Church (4th), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (3d) and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. The Eastman School of Music in Rochester held its 12th annual festival of American Music in April and its Symposium of American Works for Orchestra in October. Ann Arbor held its 49th May Festival and Worcester, in October, the 83d. The Montreal Festival was led for the second year by Sir Thomas Beecham; the annual Juilliard Summer School Festival was opened free to the public to aid war morale; Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, held its 4th summer festival of chamber music; Baldwin-Wallace, in December, held its third mid-year Festival, devoted to Mozart; at Hollywood, the 4th annual Festival of Modern Music sponsored by the Cathedral Choir of the First Congregational Church introduced several new works. New York City had a Mozart Festival in January. Folk Song Festivals were held in Washington, D. C., under the auspices of the Washington Post Folk Festival Association (9th) from April 29 to May 2, and in June at Traipsin' Woman Cabin, on Four Mile Fork of Garner, in the Kentucky foothills, under the direction of Jean Thomas.

Radio.

Among outstanding radio sustaining programs may be cited the British-American Music Festival and the Russian-American Festival, both series over CBS, which in addition presented the American premiere of Miaskovsky's twenty-first Symphony; the NBC Symphony Orchestra Concerts of both spring and fall, the latter series beginning with the American program conducted by Toscanini, consisting of works by Loeffler, Creston, Gould, and Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'; The American Opera Festival conducted by Alfred Wallenstein in May and June over Mutual; the series of harpsichord recitals by Wanda Landowska (CBS); the annual American Music Festival (WNYC) presented interesting new music; the League of Composers Concerts (CBS); recorded concerts by WQXR of music by American composers and of Pan-American music.

Music Abroad.

American compositions played in England during the year include Roy Harris' Third Symphony, Carpenter's Violin Concerto, Copland's 'Quiet City,' William Schuman's Festival Overture; and Stoessel's Concerto Grosso.

Sir Arnold Bax was appointed Master of the King's Music when this office was made vacant upon the death of Sir Henry Walford Davies.

In Paris, the foundation of the International Archives of Contemporary Music, proposed before the War, has been resumed under the direction of its originator, Carol-Bérard. The collection is to be attached to the Bibliothèque Nationale and proposes to establish a 'complete documentation' for all contemporary composers.

In Switzerland, the International Music Festival, inaugurated in 1938 by Toscanini, has continued, and was held this year at Lucerne during the fall.

The Symphony Orchestra of Mexico under Carlos Chavez opened its 15th season of 14 weeks in June in the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City. The orchestra then made its first tour of Mexican cities.

The Music Division of the Pan-American Union of which Charles Sieger is chief has sponsored the Editorial Project for Latin American music. Its purpose is to make known in this country the best Latin American works.

Miscellany.

Dame Myra Hess was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

William Schuman's Fourth Symphony was selected as the best work in the first 'anonymous audition' of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.

Edward Margetson, naturalized British West Indian composer, was awarded the $1,000 grant of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the $1,000 grant of the Rosenwald Fund for Negroes.

The Music Critics Circle of New York voted William Schuman's Third Symphony the best work of the orchestral program of the season's works selected by the Circle for rehearing.