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.

1941: Music

Despite the imminence and finally the declaration of war, the year 1941 was marked by increased activity in every field of musical endeavor throughout the United States. Even those localities which have already experienced black outs and air-raid alarms have given no sign of diminishing their support of musical enterprises. The shortage of materials which the defense program brought about, spurred manufacturers of instruments in their research for substitute materials. Demand for all kinds of musical commodities increased in spite of rising prices and the shipments of pianos to dealers in June 1941 were almost 60 per cent ahead of the previous year.

Music and the Community.

But, it is the widening of the scene of activity which is most significant. This is reflected on the one hand in the success of extended tours made by major orchestras and opera companies, and on the other in the appearance of new organizations and the continued development of those more recently established in many different parts of the country. The latter evidence is doubtlessly the more important since it is the decentralizing of musical activity that guarantees the surer and more vital growth of the nation's musical resources. Accounts of organizations like the Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra or the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra illustrate vividly this phenomenon.

The Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Robertson, head of the music department of Hendrix College, Conway, Ark., began early in 1940 with a small group of players from various parts of the state, and when a deficit at the end of the first year threatened the extinction of the orchestra, these players, including the conductor, volunteered their services, organized the Arkansas State Symphony Association, concentrated upon the sale of season tickets, focussed the attention of the state on their endeavors, and, by the end of the 1941 season, were playing to a proud enthusiastic audience of 1,800 Arkansans. The organization could look forward to the coming season with a surplus of funds to pay the musicians. The seventy players, amateurs and professionals, ranging in age from 17 to 60, represent eleven cities over the state. The following statement of Dr. J. D. Jordan, president of the Arkansas State Symphony Association expresses the real significance of the undertaking: 'We believe we have proved that any state in the nation may establish such an organization. They need do only as we have done: make the symphony a means of music for and by the people themselves.'

The North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, also a State organization, is nine years old and consists of fifty players, of whom fifteen are women. They come from twelve different cities and towns. Sectional rehearsals are held during the year at convenient points and then final all-unit rehearsals are held several days preceding each concert. The musicians receive a fee and traveling expenses. This season the orchestra played eight concerts under the direction of Benjamin Swalin.

In Memphis, Tenn., the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Burnet Tuthill, closed its third season with a surplus. The only sources of income were from the sale of tickets and program advertising. The orchestra which began as a small faculty-student group drawn from Southwestern College and Memphis College, who wanted an opportunity to make music together, today numbers seventy-four players from Memphis and the surrounding country. Through careful management it has become a permanent organization and a source of real musical satisfaction to the community.

Likewise, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has won for itself the support and interest of social and civic groups and also of the newspaper and radio proprietors of Knoxville, Tenn., who regard it as a valuable cultural asset to the city. It was founded thirteen years ago by Bertha Walburn Clark, violinist and teacher, as an outgrowth of a string ensemble formed for her advanced violin students. Attracting other members who enjoyed playing good music, it now numbers sixty-five players, and attracts large audiences to its concerts. The Knoxville Symphony Society was formed this year to manage the business affairs of the orchestra and to further its activities. Similar accounts could be given of orchestras in Birmingham, Ala., Albuquerque, N. M., New Orleans, La., Salt Lake City, Utah, and are representative of hundreds of small semi-professional and amateur orchestras throughout the country.

Another striking example of community interest in music comes from Iowa where there is a statewide movement, emanating from the Agricultural Department of the Federal Government by which every farmer community and township has its local chorus. These small groups join on seasonal or annual occasions for general festivals which include music. The movement is under the direction of Fannie R. Buchanan, extension rural sociologist. This year the special project for Iowa women was a study of Latin-American music and 89,000 Iowa rural women, enrolled in home economics extension clubs, and 12,401 4H Club girls, studied 'Musical Moments from Latin America.' Songs and recorded 'listening numbers' were included in the course of study. In June, at the festival held at Iowa State College, more than 2,000 of the women from these units sang the songs they had learned through the project. In a state where music has become so much a part of the life of the community, it follows that the University would accord it an important place in the curriculum. Iowa State University has a student orchestra of 110 members directed by Dr. Philip G. Clapp; Iowa State College, at Ames, has a student orchestra of 80, directed by Alwin Edgar; Iowa State Teacher's College has an orchestra of 90, directed by Edward F. Kurtz.

The development of all these regional musical centers is slowly but surely providing an opportunity for the American composer. The local organizations perform the works of the local composers. They provide a laboratory for the test. Although the major orchestras of the country played fewer works by Americans in 1941 than in the previous season (92 works in 1941 as against 111 in 1940) it is a safe guess from a cursory review of programs by minor organizations that the latter played more American works in 1941 than in 1940. To be sure, the 'local' performance does not bring wide fame but it may more easily result in a second performance. During the past season, the epidemic of 'first times' reached an unprecedented height so far as the programs of the major orchestras are concerned, and this year American composers have become correspondingly more concerned with the problem of obtaining second or third hearings. They are being urged to turn their attention particularly to high school, college and National Youth Administration groups and to compose for these orchestras and bands, legion in number and many of very high standard. In this functional music and in the cultivation of the 'regional' group the young American composer can effect a mutual development between creative output, performer and audience.

Orchestras.

The general championing of the American composer and his works can be traced in the accounts of the year's activities of the larger musical organizations. The rating of the major orchestras according to the number of American works performed during the 1941 season was as follows: Chicago Symphony, first place; Indianapolis Symphony and National Symphony, tied for second place; Cincinnati Symphony, third; New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony, tied for fourth place; Philadelphia Symphony, fifth; Detroit Symphony, sixth. Of the major orchestras, the two on which greatest attention was focussed this year were the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. For the jubilee season, Dr. Frederick Stock, a member of the orchestra for 45 years and its conductor for 36 years, commissioned new works from several contemporary composers. The Americans represented were John Alden Carpenter, Roy Harris, Albert Noelte, Carl Eppert, Rudolph Ganz, Leo Sowerby and Dr. Stock himself. Foreign composers were Stravinsky, Milhaud, Kodaly, Glière, Casella, Miaskovsky and William Walton. On the last program of the season, Dr. Stock performed a composite work consisting of twelve variations on a tune sung by early residents of Southern Illinois called 'El-A-Noy.' The twelve Chicago musicians who composed the variations were Felix Borowski, John Alden Carpenter, Rosetter G. Cole, Edward Collins, Rudolph Ganz, Samuel Lieberson, Florian Mueller, Albert Noelte, Arne Oldberg, Thornwald Otterstrom, Leo Sowerby and David Van Vactor. In the competition opened to American composers as part of the anniversary observance, 105 scores were submitted. Carl Eppert won first prize, Albert Sendrey, second, and honorable mention went to Gail T. Kubik. The judges were Deems Taylor, Eugene Ormandy and John Barbirolli.

The New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra began on Oct. 5, 1941, its centennial celebration. The orchestra has been in continuous operation since Dec. 7, 1842, the date of its initial concert in the fashionable Apollo Rooms at 410 Broadway. It then numbered 63 players, directed by Ureli Corelli Hill. Today, directed by John Barbirolli, it numbers 104 players and in point of seniority yields only to the Royal Philharmonic of London (founded in 1813) and the Vienna Philharmonic which began its career just eleven days before the Philharmonic of New York. In the centennial season the following guest conductors were invited to lead the orchestra: Serge Koussevitzky, Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Artur Rodzinski, Eugene Goosens and Fritz Busch. In making plans, the directors of the New York Philharmonic Society encouraged the inclusion of works by American composers, and up to Dec. 28 the following works by native composers were performed: Henry Cowell's 'Tales of Our Countryside'; Roy Harris's Folk Dance from 'Folk Symphony'; Paul Creston's Scherzo from Symphony Op. 20; Morton Gould's Guaracho from 'Latin-American Symphonette'; David Stanley Smith's 'Credo'; William Grant Still's 'Plain Chant for America' for baritone solo and orchestra, a setting of the poem by Katherine Garrison Chapin (Mrs. Francis Biddle); Jerome Kern's Scenario for Orchestra on Themes from 'Show Boat'; Virgil Thomson's Suite 'Filling Station'; Herman Wetzler's Adagio and Fugue from Quartet in C minor; and David Diamond's Symphony No. 1. Several works by contemporary foreign composers were also played including a Concerto for piano and orchestra by the Mexican, Carlos Chavez.

The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra has inaugurated a novel plan for the selection for performance of works by Americans. Artur Rodzinski, the conductor, formed a committee consisting of seventeen musicians and four laymen. He then directed the orchestra in five new American works without revealing to the committee the names of the composers. The committee after hearing symphonies by William Schuman, Leo Sowerby, David Diamond, Roy Harris's 'Work' and David Van Vactor's 'Variazione Solenni,' selected for performance William Schuman's Fourth Symphony. By means of a series of such tests, ten American works are to be chosen for the season's programs.

The National Symphony Orchestra, Washington. D. C., under the direction of Hans Kindler, held a contest for new American works. The audience acted as judges selecting Arnold Cornelissen's Symphony as first choice and Robert O. Barkley's 'A Sunday Evening in Bloomfield' as second.

The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra celebrated its thirtieth anniversary season with the regular conductor, Pierre Monteux, sharing the podium with two guest conductors, Igor Stravinsky and Charles O'Connell.

The second All American Youth Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski made a transcontinental tour beginning May 11 in New York and visiting 46 cities in 56 days.

Opera.

Activity in the field of opera was greater than ever. The Metropolitan Opera Company made the longest tour in its recent history, visiting Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, New Orleans, Dallas, Atlanta, Richmond, Hartford, Rochester, and Albany. It was heard on tour by 183,000 persons, 67,000 in Cleveland alone. In its regular season in New York, thirty-five different operas were performed, including the following revivals: Il Trovatore and Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi); Don Pasquale and La Fille du Régiment (Donizetti); Don Giovanni (Mozart); Samson et Dalilah (Saint-Saëns); Fidelio (Beethoven); The Bartered Bride in English (Smetana). The novelty of the season was Gluck's Alceste, the first performance in America by a major opera company. Among the guest conductors were Bruno Walter, whose Fidelio with Kirsten Flagstad was one of the highlights of the season; Montemezzi, who conducted his own L'Amore dei Tre Re: Edwin MacArthur, who conducted a performance of Tristan und Isolde and Calusio who made his debut as conductor of Il Trovatore. Of the new singers, Salvatore Baccaloni, buffo basso, was the most distinguished. Five young American singers made their Metropolitan debuts: Norina Greco, Josephine Tuminia, Robert Weede, Eleanor Steber and Arthur Kent.

The 'New Opera Company,' Mrs. Lytle Hull, president, had its initial season in New York, presenting four operas in a six-week series, opening Oct. 14 at the Forty-fourth Street Theatre. The singers of the new company, both principals and a chorus of fifty, were nearly all Americans and the orchestra, made up of graduates of the National Orchestral Association were also native born. Two of the productions, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Verdi's Macbeth, both sung in Italian, were given in the style and tradition of John Christie's Glyndebourne performances under the orchestral direction of Fritz Busch and the stage direction of his son, Hans Busch. Tchaikowsky's Pique Dame was sung in English under the direction of Herman Adler with Lothar Wallerstein as stage director. Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne also sung in English was directed by Felix Brentano.

Also in New York, the Juilliard Institute Opera Players presented a double bill consisting of two one-act operas: Blennerhassett by Vittorio Giannini and The Devil Take Her by the British composer, Arthur Benjamin.

The San Francisco Opera Company completed a successful tour of the Northwest, visiting Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, Pasadena and Los Angeles.

The Chicago Opera Company, Henry Weber, director, after the most successful season in its career, appointed as its new general manager, Fortuno Gallo, founder and director of the San Carlo Opera Company. A new organization, The Opera Theatre of Chicago announced two subscription series under the direction of Giacomo Rimini. The operas planned were Barber of Seville; Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto; I Misteri Gandiosi by Cattozzo; Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona; Stravinsky's Mavra; Mozart's Cosi fan tutte; Berlioz's Damnation of Faust and Verdi's Macbeth. Cleveland organized a new opera company drawing on Cleveland artists and musicians and presenting operas in English under the direction of Boris Goldovsky and Richard Rychtarik.

The Philadelphia Opera Company, in its second season presented among other works Pelleas and Melisande of Debussy, the first American production of Emil von Reznicek's Fact or Fiction (both performances in English) and Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. This is another company 'dedicated to giving an opportunity to American artists' and to presenting opera in English. The music director is Sylvan Levin and the stage director is Hans Wohlmuth.

In North Carolina, the newly formed State Opera Group directed by Paul Oncely presented The Bartered Bride in High Point, Winston Salem, Asheville and Greensboro. The Negro National Opera Society organized by Mary Cardwell Dawson of Pittsburgh made its initial appearance in that city in Aida. The American Opera League, founded in 1940 by Thomas L. Thomas, toured New England, presenting operas in English; The Nine O'Clock Opera Troupe, consisting of seven singers and a pianist was booked for a sixteen-week tour presenting their production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in English. The Junior Programs Opera Company consisting of six singers, a dancer and a pianist completed a coast to coast tour of 135 performances attended by about 250,000 children. One American opera Jack and the Beanstalk, Louis Gruenberg's setting of John Erskine's libretto had its seventieth performance in the United States this year.

League of Composers and Opera.

Among the new projects of the League of Composers, is 'The Composer's Theatre,' the commissioning of chamber operas. The League aims to marshal the resources of non-commercial artistic agencies, such as the universities, conservatories, academies and special museums which have semi-professional groups of performers and also small stages at their disposal for purposes of lyric drama. The first performance under this plan took place on May 4 in the Brander Matthews Theatre, New York City, when a new chamber opera Paul Bunyan, music by the British composer, Benjamin Britten, libretto by the British poet, W. H. Auden, was presented. Similar works commissioned for the coming season include A Lamp on the Plains, music by Ernst Bacon, libretto by Paul Horgan; The New York Opera, music and libretto by Mare Blitzstein; Solomon and Balkis, music by Randall Thompson, libretto adapted from Rudyard Kipling. The last named, a joint undertaking of the league and the Columbia Broadcasting System, will be a work adaptable for radio use as well as for production by university and music school groups.

Other Activities of the League.

In the course of 1941, the League presented in New York City three 'Young Composers' Concerts' in which were heard works by John Lessard, Alvin Etler, Miriam Gideon, Jacobo Fisher, Hugo Balzo, Ben Gossick, Emil Kochler, Charles Naginski, Donald Fuller, Robert Laidlaw, Harold Shapero, Edward T. Cone, Lukas Foss and Norman Dello Joio. The second Town Hall Award Concert introduced a song cycle 'Five Rhymes from Peacock Pic' by Theodore Chanler, commissioned by the League. In January, at the Museum of Modern Art, five documentary films for which special musical scores had been composed were shown and the composers of the scores gave short talks. The films were 'Valley Town,' music by Mare Blitzstein; 'Roots in the Soil,' Paul Bowles: 'One Third of a Nation,' Roy Harris; 'Power and the Land,' Douglas Moore; 'The River,' Virgil Thomson (See also MOTION PICTURES). The League also made its first venture in promoting the distribution of new music on discs by issuing a recording of Arnold Schönberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire,' made by the Columbia Recording Corporation with Schönberg himself conducting. The second work chosen for recording in the coming season is the Fourth Sonata for violin and piano by Charles Ives. In May, the League conducted a radio festival consisting of four regional programs sent over the Columbia Broadcasting System. The first from New York was conducted by Howard Barlow and introduced two works by Robert Palmer and Bernard Rogers specially commissioned for radio performance. Pieces by Aaron Copland and Paul Creston completed the program. The second broadcast from Rochester, conducted by Howard Hanson presented pieces by Wayne Barlow, Phillips, Rogers and Haines. The third broadcast was directed by Eugene Goosens from Cincinnati and the fourth by Paul Pisk from Los Angeles. In December, the League gave a concert and reception for Juan José Castro, distinguished Argentine composer. With the aim of enlarging its national activities the League plans to establish five branch leagues in Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Festivals.

The increase in the number of festivals, general and special, reflects the decentralizing tendency. Bach festivals were held at Bethlehem, Pa. (34th annual); Winter Park, Fla. (Rollins College, 6th annual); Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (4th annual); Berea, Ohio (Baldwin Wallace College, 9th annual); Ypsilanti, Mich. (Normal College); Greenville, S. C. (Furman University, 2nd annual); Philadelphia (3rd annual); Minneapolis (University of Minnesota); and Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. (7th annual). Mozart festivals were held at Asheville, N. C. (5th annual); East Brewster, Mass. (Cape Cod Institute of Music, 2nd annual); Princeton, N. J. (Westminster Choir College); and the Pacific Northwest (The Seattle Symphony Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham in the principal cities of Washington, Idaho and British Columbia). Most important among the festivals devoted to or stressing works of American composers was the sixteenth annual held in April at Rochester, N. Y., where Dr. Howard Hanson presided over the five day series of orchestral, choral and chamber concerts and ballet, presenting works by Herbert Inch, Edmund Haines, William Naylor, Bernard Rogers, W. G. Still, William Bergsma, Gustave Soderlund, Homer Keller, Charles Naginski, Burrill Phillips, William Denny, Howard Hanson, Bernhard Kaun, Loeffler, Deems Taylor, Mabel Daniels, Spencer Norton and Griffes. In October, the 6th annual Composers' Symposium was held at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Again Dr. Hanson conducted to present new orchestral works by David Diamond, Robert Ward, Owen Reed, Carl McKinley, Lawrence Powell, Mary Howe, Walter Mourant, William Bergsma, Kent Kennan, Wallis Braman, Robert Stevenson, John K. Jones, Ross Lee Finney and Harold Brown. The Three Choirs Festival (6th annual) in March in New York included on its three programs many contemporary works by North and South Americans. The Mid-Year Festival of Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory at Berea, Ohio, was devoted to American compositions including works by Walter Piston, David S. Smith, Jack Conklin, Blair Cosman, Roy Harris, Burnet Tuthill, Leo Sowerby and Howard Hanson. At Bennington College in Vermont, a summer festival featured the following American composers: Richard Franko Goldman, Lou Harrison, John Becker, Herbert Elwell, Edwin Gerschefski, Louis Horst, John Alden Carpenter, John Barrows, David Van Vactor and Henry Cowell.

Festivals of Folk Music were held at Washington, D. C., in May, under the auspices of the Washington Post Folk Festival Association (8th annual) and at Traipsin' Woman Cabin (11th annual) in Kentucky, under the direction of Jean Thomas. The National Federation of Music Clubs instituted folk-tune festivals in many states as part of its Junior Competitive Festivals this year.

Music of the 17th and 18th centuries was featured in festivals held in Williamsburg, Va., under the direction of Ralph Kirkpatrick (6th series); at Chicago, Ill., under the direction of Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson (2nd annual) and Skytop Lodge in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania under the auspices of the American Society of Ancient Instruments.

In Philadelphia, a Schubert Festival in March was conducted by James Allen Dash. A Sibelius Festival was held at Suomi College, Hancock, Mich., and an All Soviet Music Festival took place under the auspices of the New Masses in New York City. Berkeley, Calif., celebrated its diamond jubilee with a festival of drama and music symbolizing the city's 'powerful stimulus to the spread of education and culture in the West,' Mendelssohn's Elijah, a production in English of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, a program by the San Francisco Opera Ballet and a concert by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra directed by Bruno Walter, comprised the musical events. In New York City, Hunter, City, Brooklyn and Queens Colleges initiated an annual Intercollegiate Music Festival. The South Carolina Music Festival featured the Southern Symphony Orchestra and a chorus of three hundred students from fifteen South Carolina Colleges. Hans Schweiger conducted. At Denver, the annual Central City Play Festival under the auspices of the Central City Opera House Association presented fourteen performances of The Barber of Seville and eleven of Gluck's Orpheus under the musical direction of Frank St. Leger with Robert Edmund Jones as stage designer and Herbert Graf as stage director. The Green Mountain Festival of the Arts included a performance of Mozart's opera The Impresario under the direction of the Department of Music of Bennington College. Smith College in its third annual festival in April presented choral, orchestral and chamber music of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

At White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the fourth annual Greenbrier Music Festival took place in August. Westminster Choir School celebrated its fifteenth birthday in its annual festival which included a performance of Verdi's Requiem. Ann Arbor, and Worcester held their annual festivals in May and October respectively, and Cincinnati in spite of some hesitation on the part of the Festival Association owing to world and national conditions celebrated its biennial musical event in May with performances of the Bach B Minor Mass, Handel's Israel in Egypt, Pierné's Children's Crusade and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius.

I.S.C.M. Festival.

The festival most publicized was that of the International Society for Contemporary Music held in New York City, May 19-27, under the auspices of the United States section of the organization. This was the eighteenth festival held since the founding of the society in 1921 and was originally planned for Budapest, but the outbreak of the war made this impossible. The program committee or jury consisted of Ernest Krenek, Karl Rathaus, Joaquin Nin-Culmell, Stanley Chapple, and Roger Sessions. Twenty-five delegates from 22 countries attended the festival. Three programs of chamber music were open to the public and two additional programs of chamber music were broadcast by the Columbia System. Five programs of orchestral music were broadcast by the National Broadcasting System, the Columbia Broadcasting System and the Mutual Broadcasting System. In addition, further compositions chosen by the jury were played by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony in their respective cities. The following composers were represented on these various programs; Paul Kadosa, Matyas Seiber (Hungary); Salvador Contreras, Silvestre Revueltas, Blas Galindo, Rodolfo Halffter (Mexico); Jerzy Fitelberg, Antoni Szalowski, Roman Palester (Poland); Juan Carlos Paz (Argentina); Bohuslav Martinu (Czechoslovakia); Ren‚ Leibowitz (France); William Alwyn, Benjamin Britten (Great Britain); Piet Ketting, Henk Badings (Netherlands); Edmond Partos (Palestine); Will Burkhard (Switzerland); Paul Dessau, Artur Schnabel, Anton Webern, Stefan Wolpe, Viktor Ullman (Independents); Edward Cone, Aaron Copland, Russel G. Harris, Emil Koehler, Charles Naginski, Paul Nordoff, Bernard Wagenaar (United States). For the 1942 meeting place, Mexico City has been chosen and the committee in charge consists of Darius Milhaud, Bela Bartok, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland with Bohuslav Martinu and Désiré Defauw as substitute members.

Summer Music.

Like the festivals, the summer concert series have increased in number and show a wider geographical distribution. The established open air organizations such as the New York Stadium Concerts; the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles; Ravinia Park, Chicago; Cincinnati Summer Opera Association; Sunset Symphonies at Potomac Water Gate, Washington, D. C.; the Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood near Stockbridge, Mass.; Robin Hood Dell, Philadelphia; Forrest Park, St. Louis; the Milwaukee Shell and the Triborough Stadium Opera at Randall's Island reported consistently higher attendance than ever before. To these may be added chamber music and orchestral groups too numerous to mention throughout the country all well supported by summer communities.

Radio.

Radio has become one of the foremost agents in fostering native composers and conductors and 1941 saw several American music series continued or newly introduced. 'Milestones in American Music' (Columbia) presented in twenty-two half hour broadcasts, works composed by Americans in the last hundred years, tracing the development of various styles. These were presented by the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N. Y., under the supervision and direction of Dr. Howard Hanson. 'Meet American Composers' (WQXR) was planned in cooperation with the National Association for American Composers and Conductors and consisted of a series of recorded and 'live' performances of works by Americans from the time of William Billings of the 18th century to the present day, including on each program a group of traditional songs or folk songs. 'New American Music' (NBC) under the direction of Dr. Frank Black concentrated on contemporary American music, and invited letters from the listening audience which were discussed by the commentator, Samuel Chotzinoff. 'Russell Bennett's Notebook' (Mutual) consisted of a series of programs devoted entirely to American works, many written especially by Mr. Bennett and others for the broadcasts. A special series of broadcasts from Feb. 12-22 constituted the second annual WNYC American Music Festival. In the eleven day cycle, forty hours of broadcasting introduced two hundred works. Among the composers represented were Copland, James, Gershwin, Gould, Bloch, Taylor, Siegmeister, Gardner, Sessions, Moore, Mansfield, Fuleihan, Thompson, Porter, Damrosch, Hadley, Kroll, Goldman, Diamond, Shapero, Bowles, Blitzstein, Luening, Tweedy, Klotzman, Gideon, Haufreucht, Schuman, Creston, Harris, Brant. Chamber music, symphony, opera, Tin Pan Alley and swing, folk songs and ballads were all presented in specialized programs. American folk song was the special concern of the music department of the 'School of the Air' (Columbia) when each week Alan Lomax, curator of the archives of American Folk Song of the Library of Congress, discussed in 'Well-Springs of Music,' a particular type of song.

Among the outstanding sustaining concert programs and series of 1941 were the following: The Metropolitan Opera Company Broadcasts, which were extended this year to South America. (NBC); The New York Philharmonic Symphony (Columbia); Indianapolis Symphony (Columbia); Chicago Woman's Symphony (Columbia); New Friends of Music Chamber Music (NBC); Ford Symphony Hour (Columbia); Alfred Wallenstein's Sinfonietta (Mutual); Dr. Walter Damrosch's Music Appreciation Hour (NBC); Concerto series featuring Joseph Szigeti, violinist (Mutual); Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street for hot jazz (NBC); National Broadcasting Company Symphony Orchestra's Saturday evening series; Library of Congress Chamber Music Series; Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, (Mutual); Frick Collection Chamber Music Concerts (WNYC); and the various series of recorded concerts broadcast by station WQXR. which might well be called 'The Music Station.'

Records.

During 1941 more discs were sold than in any other year of the industry's existence. Here, too, the American composer is steadily gaining ground for by this means his works can become more familiar through repeated playings; the year shows an increasing number of recordings of American compositions. Furthermore, since European ensembles were no longer available for making records owing to the war, the companies were forced to use domestic ensembles with the result that recordings by several American orchestras appeared for the first time in record catalogues. These included the National Symphony Orchestra, Hans Kindler, director; Indianapolis Symphony, Fabien Sevitzky; Cincinnati Symphony, Eugene Goosens; San Francisco Symphony, Pierre Monteux; and Toronto Symphony, Ernest MacMillan. Contemporary American Works made available in records include Copland's 'Music for the Theatre' (Victor); Roy Harris's Quintet for piano and strings (Victor) and Quarter, No. 3 (Columbia); Harl McDonald's 'Santa Fe Trail' and 'Songs of Conquest' (Victor); Morton Gould's Seven Piano Pieces (Decca); Marc Blitzstein, Excerpts from No For An Answer (Keynote); Album of Piano Pieces by Farwell, Gershwin, Thompson, Guion, Chassins, MacDowell, D. G. Mason, John A. Carpenter, Freed, Dett, Sowerby, Marion Bauer, Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (Victor); Rieger's 'New Dance' (Victor); Piston's Carnival Song (Victor) and Sonata for Violin and Piano (Columbia); Toch's Quintet for piano and strings (Columbia); Barber's 'Essay for Orchestra' (Victor); Bernard Roger's 'Soliloquy' for flute and strings; Wayne Barlow's 'The Winter's Past' for oboe and strings; Homer Keller's Serenade for clarinet and strings; Burrill Phillips 'American Dance' for bassoon and strings (Victor Album); Deems Taylor's Peter Ibbetson Suite; Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite, (Columbia); Arthur Lange's 'The Fisherman and his Soul' and Joseph Achron's 'Statuettes' (Co-Art Recordings); McBride's Quintet for oboe and strings (Victor); 'Scherzo' for Wind quartet (New Music Recordings) and Hagiographa (Victor) by Frederic Jacobi; Prelude and Fugue by David Diamond (New Music Recordings); Howard Hanson's Suite from Merry Mount (Victor). Music of an early American composer, William Billings (1746-1800), was made available in an album of his 'American Psalms and Fuguing Tunes' (Columbia). Several albums of American folk music were also recorded during the year such as 'Two Centuries of American Folk Songs' by the American Ballad Singers (Victor); 'Swing Your Partner' (Victor), a collection of square dances or quadrilles; 'Indian Music of the Southwest' collected by Laura C. Boulton (Victor); 'The Old Chisholm Trail,' songs of the Southwest by Tony Kraber (Keynote); 'Smoky Mountain Melodies,' played and sung by mountain folk and edited by John A. Lomax (Victor); 'The Wayfaring Stranger,' sung by Burl Ives (Okeh); 'Southern Exposure,' Jim Crow Blues or social problems of the Negroes (Keynote); 'Deep Sea Chanteys and Whaling Ballads,' and 'Sod Buster Ballads' sung by the Almanac Singers (General Records); 'Bayou Ballads' by Marguerite Castellanos Taggert; 'Talking Union' (Keynote) dealing with unions and organizing problems. Folk music of other peoples were recorded in 'Echoes of India' (Musicraft) by Wana Singh and an orchestra of Indian musicians; 'Seven Short Balinese Works' transcribed by Colin McPhee; 'Red Army Songs' by the Red Army Choir; 'Brazilian Songs' sung by Elsie Houston (Victor); 'Chee Lai' (Keynote) songs of China at war.

Other releases of recordings outstanding for content, made in the course of the year, were the Mahler Ninth Symphony, Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Verdi's Requiem, Tullio Serafin and Rome Royal Opera chorus and orchestra; Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Koussevitzky and Boston Symphony, chorus and soloists; Fauré's Requiem, Montreal Festivals under Wilfred Pelletier; Bach's 'Art of Fugue,' E. Power Biggs, organ; Mozart, Cosi fan tutte, Glyndebourne production under Fritz Busch; Alban Berg's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Louis Krasner and Cleveland Orchestra under Artur Rodzinski. Music of a South American composer is made available in records of the Brazilian, Villa-Lobos's 'Bachianas Brasileras,' 'Nonetto,' 'Cancao do Carreiro' and Quattuor for harp, celesta, flute, saxophone and women's chorus.

Music for the Films.

In the realm of film-music outstanding scores were Bernard Hermann's for 'Citizen Kane' and for 'All That Money Can Buy'; and Louis Gruenberg's for 'So Ends Our Night.'

Miscellaneous.

The annual Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge award for distinguished services to chamber music was received by three composers, Benjamin Britten (British), Alexander Tansman (Polish) and Randall Thompson (American).

Burl Marx of Brazil was guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Juan Jose Castro of Argentina with the National Broadcasting Company Orchestra.

The score of Lady in the Dark by Kurt Weill, was published by Chappell and Company.

The Hispanic Society of the United States published Kurt Schindler's 'Folk Music and Poetry of Spain and Portugal.'

The Society for the Publication of American Music chose for the year's publication, David Van Vactor's Quintet for flute and strings, and Ulric Cole's Piano Quintet.

The Paderewski Jubilee (fifty years in America) was marked by a concert in March in New York in which Nadia Boulanger directed the performance of Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Heinrich Schuetz's History of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Fauré Requiem.

The centenary of the birth of Antonin Dvorak was marked by several concerts throughout the country. A commemorative tablet was placed on the house at 326 East 17th Street in which Dvorak lived while in New York City.

The Music Teachers National Association, meeting with the National Association of Schools of Music and the American Musicological Society in December in Minneapolis, made the theme of the year's convention 'American Unity Through Music.' See also RADIO; MOTION PICTURES.

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.

1939: Music

The tension and uncertainty that prevailed in Europe before the outbreak of war were hardly conducive to great musical activity. The declaration of war in September drastically contracted musical life in all countries immediately concerned and even neutral countries, faced many handicaps in their attempts to carry on musical activities. Everywhere in Europe today effort is being made to resume performances but these must be on a restricted basis owing to various difficulties—mobilization of members of performing staffs, difficulties of engaging foreign artists and obtaining scores.

Opera.

America on the other hand has shown and continues to show increasing musical activity. One trend in American musical life which has become very apparent in the course of the year is the interest in and support of operatic performances. Although the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City still remains the chief center, there is evidence of a decentralizing force at work. One proof of this may be deduced from a review of the season's activities of the Metropolitan itself which shows a widening orbit as the result of an increasing demand for opera in various parts of the country.

In addition to the usual New York run, the company visited nine different cities in some of which several performances were given as is shown in the following: in Philadelphia: Rosenkavalier, Aida, Manon, Tosca, Rheingold, Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Louise, Barber of Seville; in Hartford: Otello, Die Meistersinger; in Newark, N. J.: Barber of Seville; in Baltimore: Tosca, Walküre, Thaïs; in Boston: —Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, La Bohème, Lohengrin, Walküre, Louise, Aida, Meistersinger, Thaïs, Tannhauser, Rigoletto; in Cleveland:—Otello, Louise, Walküre, Thaïs, Manon, Lohengrin, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor; in Rochester, N. Y.: Manon; in Dallas, Tex.: Manon, Otello, Tannhauser, La Bohème; in New Orleans: Aida, Bohème, Carmen, Lohengrin. In all these cities the opera houses were sold out for each performance. Nashville, Tenn. has put in its bid for a visit from the Metropolitan next season. In 1939 the repertoire of the company included also the following operas: Elektra, Salome, Hänsel und Gretel, Parsifal, Fidelio (revival), Mignon, Lakme, Boris Godunoff (revival), Orfeo et Euridice (revival), Don Giovanni, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Simon Boccanegra (which opened the season in New York), Il Trovatore, Traviata and Amelia Goes to the Ball. The whole season comprised twenty-one weeks and in New York City alone, one hundred and twenty-five performances were given.

On the west coast the San Francisco Opera Company had its seventeenth season. This company has been housed for the last seven seasons in the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. This edifice is admirably designed and constructed from the point of view of architectural artistry, of location, of technical resources of the stage and the excellent sight line from every seat in the auditorium. The facilities of the interpreters and the production and the convenience and comfort of the public have been well considered. The director of the company is Gaetano Merola. Although the season depends as regards both time and casts upon the Metropolitan since many of its singers are drawn from the personnel of the New York organization, there is every reason to believe that an independent company may eventually materialize.

In St. Louis, Mo., the Civic Grand Opera Association, a non-profit organization under the leadership of Laszlo Halasz, had its usual spring and fall seasons. Here, too, many of the singers were imported from the Metropolitan but some local artists also took part. In Philadelphia, a local opera company under the musical direction of Sylvan Levin, began its career with a performance of La Bohème. The Chicago City Opera Company had its fall season and a call for funds brought many loyal music lovers rallying to its support.

Opera in English and specifically American opera have found champions in two new ventures. The Musicomedians of San Francisco presented performances in January in Palm Springs, Calif., under the direction of Erich Weiler. Their repertoire included Gian-Carlo Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball; an 18th century opera by the French composer, Grétry, The Two Misers; Franz Schubert's The Women's War and Rossini's Bruschino or It's a Wise Son. Following the intent of their slogans 'Opera You Can Understand' and 'Music to Amuse,' the Musicomedians presented their comic operas in idiomatic American English.

In May, the American Lyric Theatre, Incorporated, under the musical direction of Lee Pattison and with the cooperation of the League of Composers, made its debut in New York. This is a non-profit organization established for the purpose of giving support, encouragement and production to musical, dramatic and choreographic art in the form of lyric drama at prices within the reach of the general public. Works by American composers and librettists comprised this first season which included The Devil and Daniel Webster, a folk opera by Douglas Moore, libretto by Stephen Vincent Benet, Susanna, Don't You Cry a musical romance based on Stephen Foster melodies, by Clarence Loomis, libretto by Sarah Newmeyer, and also three ballets presented by the Ballet Caravan—Billy the Kid, music by Aaron Copland, Pocahontas, music by Elliott Carter, and Filling Station, music by Virgil Thomson.

There is no doubt that the country as a whole is becoming increasingly opera-minded. This is further borne out by the success of a venture of the previous season, a traveling opera company which used phonograph records for the orchestral and chorus parts in order to curtail expense. The company was forced to disband not for lack of support but because of protest from the musicians' union.

Federal Music Project of the WPA.

The activities of the Federal Music Project of the WPA have not only stimulated interest in music but have thrown light on the general interest in music which exists throughout the country. The national director of the Project, Dr. Nicolai Sokoloff, issued a report covering the period from October 1935 to March 1, 1939. This shows that a total of 192,904 programs have been presented before an aggregate audience of 128,268,000 persons. This number includes 23,177 pupils' recitals in predominantly rural areas where the Music Project carries on an extensive educational activity; 16,359 programs by Federal Symphony orchestras with 12,244,000 listeners; small orchestras and bands gave 90,731 programs heard by 75,000,000 persons; choral groups gave 11,659 performances and of grand operas, chamber operas, operettas and musical comedies, there were 727 presentations. In general the programs show an enriched and broadening scope and many examples of musical literature seldom cultivated have been made accessible to concert audiences at nominal prices of admission. The American composer has been well represented on these programs, a total of 4,294 compositions by 2,034 Americans having been performed. Of these, 1,114 are contemporary. The Composers Laboratory Forums have continued their activity giving composers an opportunity to present their works before interested audiences.

During the past year in the New York district the following composers were represented: Ernest Bloch, Arthur Shepherd, Roy Harris, Lazare Saminsky, Charles Haubiel, Herbert Inch, Fred Jacobi, Morris Mamorsky, Henry H. Huss, Amadeo di Filippi, Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufreucht, Rudolph Gruen, Nicolas Berezowsky, Harrison Kerr, Elie Siegmeister, Robert Gross, Werner Josten, Henry Brant, Isadore Freed, Ross Lee Finney, Harold Brown, Sam Morgenstern, John Duke, Frederick Hart, A. W. Binder, Elliot Griffis, Lehman Engel, Gail T. Kubik. In addition, works of composition students from the following music schools and universities were presented: 11 from the Eastman School of Music, 15 from Hunter College, 7 from New York University, 4 from Vassar, and 4 from the Women's College of the University of North Carolina. The works included 50 songs, 45 piano pieces, 24 quartets, 17 choral numbers, 10 pieces for violin and piano, 4 for viola and piano, 6 trios, 3 pieces for two pianos, 2 cello solos, a piano quintet, a double quartet with piano, a wood wind quartet, a ballet, and one piece each for the following combinations,—flute and piano, cello and piano, double bass and piano, harp and piano.

The celebration of National Music Week in New York was inaugurated by a concert under the auspices of the Composers Forum Laboratory of works by former Guggenheim fellows in composition. The program consisted of the Second Symphony of Roy Harris, Copland's Outdoor Overture (originally written for the New York High School of Art and Music), Prologue by William Schumann, Concertino by Walter Piston and a Concerto for two pianos by Paul Nordoff. The fifth season of the Forum began in November operating under the co-sponsorship of the Music Division of the New York Public Library and the Juilliard School. According to Horace Johnson, project director, 'this new association will greatly enlarge the scope of the laboratory's activity by offering a wider field of operation as well as increased working facilities.'

Dr. Sokoloff's report also showed that from 1935 to 1939 in 96 centers in New York City alone, 467,424 music classes had been attended by 7,655,039 persons. Special projects were continued such as the collection of classical and semi-classical music for which twelve copyists were employed in New York. They made copies of full parts for performance of old music that existed only in original manuscript or in full score. The copied parts were reproduced on a printing machine, a gift of the Rockefeller Foundation in the New York Public Library. Each score has the exact timing of performance. In Philadelphia, Edwin A. Fleischer has financially sponsored a WPA project to copy unpublished orchestral and chamber music by American composers. His purpose is to build up a collection of American works since 1900 which will be housed in the Free Library in Philadelphia and which will be available on loan for performance. The criteria for choice of the works of the collection have been as follows: the success of performed music; prize pieces or pieces that have been commissioned; music written by winners of the Prix de Rome, Guggenheim fellows, etc.; music discovered to be of worth though not yet performed.

The Federal Writers Project while compiling a state guide to Kentucky discovered the existence of a unique annual festival at Benton, Ky., known as the Benton Big Singing. The songs of the festival were taken from a collection made by William Walker in 1835 known as 'The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.' The last edition appeared in 1854. With the collaboration of the WPA, a new edition of the book was made.

Music at the New York World's Fair.

The New York World's Fair was the scene or the sponsor of several musical events both official and unofficial. Outstanding was the series of concerts by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the World's Fair Music Hall. The first concert was directed by John Barbirolli with Mayor La Guardia of New York taking the baton for the opening fanfare composed for the occasion by Dubensky. Rodzinski conducted a program of Polish music; the Rumanian concert was directed by Enesco, the Scandinavian by Olav Kielland, the Brazilian by Burle Marx, the Swiss by Schelling and Ganz, the British by Sir Adrian Boult. Late in September, the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georg Schneevoigt gave a program devoted entirely to compositions by Jean Sibelius. This concert was under the auspices of the Finnish Government and the World's Fair.

Special mention may be made of the concert in the Special Events Building by the Vermont State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alan Carter. The program offered Dubensky's 'Anno 1600,' McBride's 'Show Piece,' John Alden Carpenter's 'Danza' and Tchaikowsky's Fourth Symphony. The evolution of the modern American dance orchestra was demonstrated in programs given by various prominent jazz organizations such as Paul Whiteman's and Duke Ellington's. A number of concerts were given by school bands, orchestras and choruses coming from high schools in different parts of the country.

On May 7, at the Court of Nations, the first Folk Festival of the Fair was held, in which dancers and singers of about sixty different nations took part. Representative music of several foreign nations could be heard at the various pavilions. There was the Coldstream Guards Band at the British pavilion; the carillon at the Dutch. At the Soviet pavilion, thirty-five sound films were shown introducing current Soviet music—symphonic, operatic excerpts, chamber music and folk songs. From Finland came the Finlandia Male Chorus directed by Heikki Klemetti. On Aug. 25, 26, 27, the American Welsh Committee sponsored the International Eisteddfod and Gymanfa Gam at the Fair.

The great fountain displays in the Lagoon of Nations were accompanied by music specially composed by Robert Russell Bennett. Several exhibits had commissioned music, such as Kurt Weill's score for the 'Railroads on Parade' at the Railroad Building, Hanns Eisler's music for the film at the Petroleum exhibit, Vittorio Giannini's symphony for the opening program of the International Business Machines, Ferde Grofe's 'Ode to Freedom' performed at the Ford exhibition on July 4. William Grant Still was commissioned to do the music for the show in the Perisphere. Aaron Copland composed scores for Ralph Steiner's housing film 'The City' shown at the Science and Education Building and for Remo Bufano's marionette show at the Hall of Pharmacy. At the Gas Exhibits Incorporated, the American Puppet Opera Company presented a repertoire of seven grand operas with puppets and recordings of the vocal and orchestral parts.

At the WPA Building, weekly programs were given by the Composers Laboratory Forum at which the following composers were represented: Dr. Edgar Stillman-Kelly, Ross Lee Finney, Elie Siegmeister, Roy Harris, William Schumann, Aaron Copland, Morris Mamorsky, Henry H. Huss, Werner Josten, Lazare Saminsky, Paul Creston, John Duke, Frederick Jacobi, Bernard Wagenaar, Charles W. Cadman. Concerts by special organizations such as the Lehman Engel Madrigal Singers and Juanita Hall's Negro Melody Singers took place in the WPA Building.

At the Temple of Religions programs of choral music were presented by choirs of St. Thomas Church, The Brick Church, Temple Emanu-El, The Paulist Fathers Choir and the Pius X Choir. The organ in the Temple was loaned by Mr. John Hausserman, Jr.

In conjunction with the Fair, during May the Metropolitan Opera Company performed a special Wagner cycle at the Metropolitan Opera House. In the operas of the Nibelungen Ring the important roles were sung by the same singers throughout. Kirsten Flagstad was Brünnhilde; Lauritz Melchior, Siegfried; Friedrich Schorr, Wotan; Arnold Gabor, Alberich; Kerstin Thorborg, Fricka.

International Congress of the American Musicological Society.

The World's Fair was indirectly responsible for an event of very special musical importance. This was the first International Congress of the American Musicological Society held Sept. 11 to 16 in New York City with headquarters at the Beethoven Association. Since it was believed that the World's Fair would attract many visitors to the Congress it seemed wise to arrange the meeting here this year.

The history of the American Musicological Society goes back to 1907 when a national section of the International Music Society, a European organization dating from 1899, was founded. This organization including the American branch closed its activities in 1914 with the outbreak of the World War. Shortly after the War the society was reorganized in Europe, but it was not until 1934 that the American Musicological Society was formed as a revival of the earlier organization here. Today there are chapters in New York, Ithaca, Rochester, Chicago, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore. More chapters are in process of formation. The first president was Otto Kinkeldey, the second was Carl Engel, and the third who now presides is Dr. Carleton Sprague Smith.

The invitations to the Congress were issued through the State Department in Washington, D. C. Special effort was made to bring leading musicologists from Central and South America so that the meeting would have a Pan-American representation. An imposing array of programs including concerts and lectures covered many phases of musicological activity here and abroad. Despite the outbreak of war in Europe only two scholars stated to appear were unable to attend, Yvonne Rokseth of France and Johannes Wolf of Germany.

The Congress began on Monday, Sept. 11, with a welcome to the American and European guests, followed by a concert by the Roth Quartet at which were performed compositions by American composers—J. K. Paine, Arthur Foote, Quincy Porter and Roy Harris. An address by Dr. Smith and a program of ballads sung by Alan Lomax completed the first day. On Tuesday morning a general session was held at which various topics were discussed by Charles Seeger (Washington, D. C.), Dragan Plamenac (Yugoslavia), Edward Dent (England), Knud Jeppeson (Denmark), Curt Sachs (New York), and Otto Gombosi (Hungary). In the evening an interesting program consisting of Puritan Psalmody,—Wesley's Hymns, Billings' Fuguing Tunes, White Spirituals and Folk Songs was presented by the Old Harp Singers of Nashville, Tenn. On the third morning discussions of various aspects of primitive and folk music were presented by George Herzog, Helen H. Roberts, A. M. Buchanan, Roy Lamson, Jr., Samuel Bayard and Alan Lomax. In the evening a concert of 19th and 20th century American music was performed including works by Gottschalk, MacDowell, Sessions and Ives. Thursday morning was given over to a session on Medieval and Renaissance Music. Papers were read by Oliver Strunk, Ernst Ferand, Albert Smijers (Holland), Fernando Luizzi (Italy), Leonard Ellinwood and Raymond Kendall. A concert of medieval music took place at The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park.

In the evening a concert of unpublished music by Georg Friedrich Handel was directed by J. M. Coopersmith. The topic for Friday morning was Music and Science, various aspects of the subject being presented by Dayton C. Miller, Otto Ortmann, Glen Haydon, Manfred Bukofzer and Davidson Taylor. There was a broadcast by Sir James Jeans from London. An instrumental and vocal demonstration of student work was given at the Music and Art High School, and the evening concert was made up of Hispanic music, illustrating the musical culture of Colonial and Contemporary Latin America. On Saturday morning another general session was made up of various discussions by Francisco Curt Lange (Uruguay), Nemesio Otano (Spain), Alfred Einstein and Paul Henry Lang. A concert of 18th and 19th century American chamber music, directed by Ralph Kirkpatrick, closed the Congress in New York.

Orchestras.

Interest in orchestras and orchestral music continues more and more active throughout the country and in many cities the business interests have proven the most generous and loyal supporters of newly founded organizations. Nearly every large city now has a symphony orchestra with a well established reputation for artistic excellence. The principal organizations in the country today and their directors are as follows: New York Philharmonic, John Barbirolli; N. B. C. Symphony, Arturo Toscanini and guest conductors; Philadelphia, Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski as guest conductor; Boston, Serge Koussevitzky; Chicago, Frederick Stock and Hans Lange, associate; San Francisco, Pierre Monteux; Cleveland, Artur Rodzinski; Los Angeles, Otto Klemperer; Minneapolis, Dmitri Mitropoulos; Cincinnati, Eugene Gossens; Pittsburgh, Fritz Reiner; Detroit, Franco Ghione and Victor Kolar; Rochester, Jose Iturbi, National Symphony (Washington, D. C.), Hans Kindler; Baltimore, Werner Janssen; Kansas City, Karl Kreuger; Seattle, Nicolai Sokoloff; Dallas, Jacques Singer; St. Louis, Vladimir Golschmann.

A new organization known as Junior Concerts, Incorporated, had endeavored to coordinate the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Rochester and National Symphony Orchestras on a nation wide scale in order to arrange children's concerts in various communities in which there has hitherto been nothing of this kind. In the past season this organization succeeded in arranging 323 performances specifically for children in 130 communities.

Festivals.

The annual general festivals took place at Cincinnati and Ann Arbor in the spring, at Worcester in the fall. Bach festivals were held at Bethlehem, Philadelphia, Wyoming Valley, Pa., at Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, at Winter Park, Fla., at Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. The Eastman School Festival of American Music was directed by Dr. Howard Hanson at Rochester, N. Y., in April. The Three Choir Festival of New York took place March 31 and April 1 at Temple Emanu-El. It centered on 'American Choral Music—Native, Colonial, New.' The initial address was given by David Stanley Smith, Dean of Music at Yale University. Old Southern chorales, early colonial and Revolutionary hymns, pieces by James Lyon, Andrew Law and Lowell Mason comprised the programs of earlier music. Contemporary composers whose works were performed were Arthur Shepherd, Marc Silver, Dorothy Westra, Elliott Carter, Douglas Moore, Lazare Saminsky, Mabel Daniels, Roy Harris, Roger Sessions and Ernest Bloch. The programs also presented 17th century and Sioux Indian hymns arranged for viola and organ by Miriam Gideon and John Tasker Howard. In May an American Music Festival was held in conjunction with the biennial convention of the National Federation of Music Clubs in Baltimore. In June at Los Angeles, an American Music Festival was held under the auspices of the Native American Composers Society. Twenty-five American composers from all different parts of the country were represented in four programs. In April, an Institute of Music was held at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. A series of lectures and concerts offered a survey of the art of music from many points of view. The lecturers included Olin Downes, John Tasker Howard, Otto Kinkeldey, Aaron Copland and Archibald T. Davison. Among the concerts was one program devoted to works by the following American composers—Copland, Samuel Barber, Robert McBride and Walter Piston. The closing concert consisted of choral and orchestral works conducted by Nadia Boulanger. Among the more recently inaugurated festivals, that given at Williamsburg, Va., in the restored Governors' Palace under the direction of Ralph Kirkpatrick promises to become a most interesting institution. In the spring and fall, programs of early eighteenth century music are presented in a setting perfectly arranged in every historical detail to accord with the period. The Berkshire Festival at the Tanglewood Estate near Stockbridge. Mass., took place in August. This fall, announcement was made of the opening of the long awaited Berkshire Music Center. Its first term will extend from July 8 to Aug. 18, 1940. The Center will consist of two sections—The Institute for Advanced Study, 'limited to those who have had a thorough preliminary musical training' and the Academy 'for those with less specific qualifications who wish to increase their knowledge of the art of interpretation and to participate in a stimulating musical experience.' The director of the Center is Serge Koussevitzky.

Mention may also be made of the Annual Tri-State Band Festival of eight years standing held in April at Phillips University, Enid, Okla. Each year more than 5,000 high school students from Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, New Mexico, and Colorado appear before a number of the nation's leading bandmasters.

Miscellany.

The Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medals for 1939 awarded for eminent service in the field of chamber music were given to Alphonse Onnou and Hans Kindler.

The Juilliard School of Music selected for publication this year Emerson Whitehorne's Second Symphony. The work was first performed in 1937 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra directed by Eugene Goosens.

Igor Stravinsky was appointed to the Charles Eliot Norton Chair of Poetics at Harvard University; Alfred Einstein was assigned to the William Allan Neilson Chair at Smith College; Arnold Schonberg was made a member of the faculty of the University of California.

A memorial to Stephen Foster is to be erected on the banks of the Suwannee River at White Springs, Fla. It will consist of an amphitheater and carillon tower and is a gift of the Florida Stephen Foster Memorial Association, a division of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs.

At Linsborg, Kans. (population 2,000), the fifty-eighth annual performance of the 'Messiah' by Handel was given in March. Hagbard Brase conducted for the twenty-fourth time.

Three outstanding musicians died in the course of the year, Lawrence Gilman, Artur Bodanzky and Ernest Schelling.

American Music Played Abroad.

England.

The B. B. C. Orchestra played Emerson Whitehorne's Second Symphony, John Alden Carpenter's Concertino and Anis Fuleihan's Mediterranean Suite. The Bloch Violin Concerto was given its first performance by Josef Szigeti with the Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Finland.

Samuel Barber's 'Music for a Scene from Shelley' was the first American work to be played in Finland in a regular symphony concert by the Helsinki Municipal Orchestra, directed by Martti Simila.

France.

The Société des Concerts of Paris gave a concert of works by Americans under the direction of Charles Meunch. The program consisted of Concerto for Orchestra by Walter Piston, a tone poem 'Lilacs' by Edward B. Hill, the Second Symphony of Randall Thompson, the D-minor Piano Concerto of Edward MacDowell, the second and third movements of 'American Sketches' by Frederick Converse and Aaron Copland's 'El Salon Mexico.'

Music in Other Countries.

Mexico.

The eleventh season of the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico began on June 30 under the direction of Carlos Chavez. During the twelve week season Otto Klemperer and Pierre Monteux appeared as guest conductors. One American work was included in this year's repertoire—Copland's 'El Salon Mexico.'

Puerto Rico.

The organization known as the Pro Arte of Puerto Rico, founded in 1932, now has 3,000 members. Payment of a fee of six dollars for a membership ticket entitles the holder to attend the series of fifteen concerts given by the Orquesta Pro Arte, conducted by Augusto Rodriguez who is also leader of the choir at the University of Puerto Rico. Pro Arte has also been active in collecting a library of books on music.

Colombia.

The National Symphony Orchestra of Bogotá, Colombia, was founded in 1936 by its present conductor, Guillermo Espinosa. It has given two series of six concerts each year, the first from March to June, the second from August to December. In addition several special concerts were given including a children's series.

China.

Interest in music has grown tremendously since the outbreak of war with Japan. Li-Fu-Chen, the Minister of Education, has stressed the importance of music in education and efforts are being made to popularize music education and to improve the methods of teaching in the schools. Curricula in music for teachers training schools are being worked out. A committee of fourteen has cooperated with the Minister in sending out questionnaires to determine the needs for musical materials in various localities. Leaders of mass singing have been engaged to lead groups in public squares, in theaters and in factories. Collections of songs have been compiled for use in schools, homes and communities. Choruses and glee clubs are being organized and great enthusiasm has been manifested.

Palestine.

The Palestine Orchestra founded three years ago by Bronislaw Hubermann has, in the course of its existence, given nearly 300 concerts which were attended by about 500,000 persons. In the summer of 1939 the orchestra had the most extensive season since the beginning of its activities. Among the conductors were Dr. Hermann Scherchen, Michael Taube, Otto Selberg, Wolfgang Friedlander, Paul Frankenburger, Bronislaw Sculcz, Marc Lawry and a guest conductor from Finland, Simon Parnet. Concerts were given in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Rechovoth. During the spring the orchestra played in Egypt. The Jerusalem Broadcasting Service also contributes to the musical life. There is a regular exchange of programs, singers and musicians between Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Palestine and each country has the opportunity to get acquainted with the music of the others. Recent symphonic concerts of the Radio orchestra were conducted by Crawford McNair and Karl Salomon. The Palestine Branch of the International Society of Contemporary Music was founded a year ago and has been active in stimulating local composers and performing their works.

Poland.

Warsaw and Cracow were the scene of the seventeenth Festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music, April 14 to 21. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Radio Orchestra, the Choral Society of Poznan, the Ballet Society of Poland, various chamber music groups and soloists took part in the programs. A concert of ancient Polish music was sung in the Church of Our Lady and a program of folk songs and dances was given at the Old Dungeon in Cracow. Two programs of orchestral music and three of chamber music presented compositions of contemporary composers from Poland, Belgium, England, Yugoslavia, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Holland, Japan, Egypt, Argentina and Sweden.

Switzerland.

At Lucerne, the Second International Festival took place from Aug. 3 to Aug. 29. Toscanini conducted the Verdi 'Requiem' and also two orchestral programs. Other orchestral programs were conducted by Ernest Ansermet, Fritz Busch and Sir Adrian Boult, and an outstanding chamber music program was played by the Busch quartet. Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Casals, Hubermann, Albert Ferber and Alexander Kipnis appeared as soloists on various programs. The solo quarter for the 'Requiem' consisted of Zinka Milanov, Kerstin Thorborg, Jussi Bjoerling and Nicola Moscona.