The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1919 There Was Plenty of Music Abroad During the War; Concerts and Re- citals; Soldiers Wanted Other Kind By Professor H. E. Knapp (Northwestern University School of Music.) \ Probably every musician who suc- ceeded in entertaining our soldiers overseas discovered new viewpoints regarding music and its effects upon men. I do not know what proportion women assume in the average aud- ience assembled to listen to music here at home. Perhaps the audienc- es at concerts and recitals somewhat resemble our church congregations where women predominate. The soldier gatherings to which we play- ed overseas were not like musical soirees or religious meetings. Cer- tainly it was a new experience to most musicians to step out in front of two hundred to three thousand men without a woman in sight. Trem¢ndously reactive to certain moods induced by music, these aud- iences were keen at sizing up the people who appeared before them. Certain types did not get along very welliand this was true of the speak- ers as well as of the musicians. One patronizing person got up and said, "Boys, do you know who I am? You don't know who I am! I speak to great audiences in so and so and am well known in such and such great cities." This unfortfinate speaker did not get much farther for every sold- ier in the. hut arose and left the room. The soldiers were not much interested in who a man was or what he had done. It was rather, "What can you do right now that will in- terest me and what kind of a man are you?" This made the musical. performer play things which the men | liked and automatically shut out cer- tain personalities. Cannot Make Generalizations But it would be dangerous to make generalizations as to the musical tastes of American men based on the reactions of these soldier audiences. The conditions were extraordinary and in no degree normal. The men were in no mood, as a rule, to pay attention to serious music, yet "Dixie" and "Turkey in the Straw" would start a near riot. It was the writer's experience that after the soldiers had shouted their heads off, raised the roof, hammered, pounded and 'stamped besides singing with alarming energy the popular jazz stuff of the day, they would listen in absolute silence to Schumann's "Traeumerei" and other respectable musical selections if they were not too long or too involved. It should be remembered that these men came from all parts of the states. Men from the big cities rarely predominated. To country men from the south and west tunes which the writer had WA posed were out of date for at least thirty years proved to be the best known; in fact almost the only fam- iliar music. How long is it since the oldest symphony concert subscriber had heard "Snow Mountain," "Two .Old Indians and One Old Squaw a Settin' on the Bank of the Arkansaw," : "Lady McCloud's Reel" or any of the old "Essences and Walk ' Arounds" which used to be and still are danced and played in the south and west? The first notes of any of these old favorites would bring shouts of ap- proval and hilarious calling out of the dance figures for which these tunes are used. After playing to thousands of men from every state in the. Union I believe that the two best known and most loved tunes of our country are "Old Zip Coon" and "Dixie". Popular as is much of the rag and jazz music of the day, it has not yet displaced in favor any of the old time dance music familiar to the fathers and grandfathers of 'these boys. Value of Franc Apropos of many things both in general and particular the French franc was worth about fourteen cents and the German mark seven. I spe- cify in this absurd menner because in Luxembourg the franc and mark-- both coins were current as well as the language which denominate them --seemed to have a different value. I could never discover just what this was. The shop keepers would volub- ly explain in three languages that onz had to live in Luxembourg a long time to become familiar with the exchange. Translated into Eng- lish it seemed to mean that you got cheated every time you made a purchase. While playing for the S. 0. S. in France our hotel bills were pretty expensive even with the franc at fourteen cents, When we were with the combat divifon either in France or Germany we had no lodg- ing expenses. The army billeting officer would assign us billets, we would move in and that was all there was to it.. These were sometimes in hotels, sometimes in private houses. In the devastated area in France they . were not inviting for the towns were so shot up that it was hard to find a covered house to live in. Where the troops had taken over German army barracks the accommodations were best... The bad weather and. if nos- sible 'worse billets, kept about fifty per. cent of the entertainers on the sick list all the time." No fires, con- tinued cold and wet weather and sanitary conditions which smelled to heaven made it hard for the singers and speakers particularly. Throat trouble and bronchitis were ever present. How the women stood it at all is a wonder. In Germany the conditions were just the opposite. Billets were uniformly good; a little shy on bathing facilities perhaps, for such luxuries had been grabbed off by the army officers to whom, of course, they belonged by right, but in contrast to our experience in France it was unalloyed comfort. Part of this was due to the weather which is so wonderful in spring and summer along" the valleys of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Opera in Germany With the mark at seven cents Ger- man opera was on the bargain coun- ter and our soldiers took advantage of it in Coblenz. The bills at Wies- baden and Cologne were more inter- esting but I could not get a pass out- side of the third army zone. The ladies, bless their hearts, could al- ways get passes and almost anything else from the army so they went to Cologne and Wiesbaden on Sunday nights when we did not have to work. If they forgot to get passes they went A. W. O. L. Do you think that any self-respecting M. P. would molest them? Not a. chance! All the ladies had to do was to shed about them the benign light of their bene- ficent presence and they got anything they desired. 1 observed that they were careful not to hide any of that light; on the contrary they worked it overtime. For instance, a line a block long at the commissary's had no terrors for them. Right up to the head they would step and everybody gave way, and they would interview | entertainment and other officers when favors would amelior- ate discomforts. No American sold- ier but was blinded by the lustrous effulgence of that wonderful light, to his credit be it said. Music in London In London, where I landed in Sep- tember, 1918, Sir Henry Wood's or- chestra was giving promenade con: certs in Queen's hall in Regent street just off from Oxford circus. In this hall the balconies only are seated, the floor being used for standing room, where smoking is permitted. I"heard a Wagner program after nearly be- ing run over getting there in the darkened streets. The orchestra in- cluded thirteen firsts, eight of whom were women; twelve seconds, seven were women; eight violas, three women; and eight 'cellos of which only one was a woman. I saw no women among the six contra basses. These ladies seemed to play with greater verve and freedom than the men. I thought they were better in- billeting, strumentalists. Maybe I, too. was] blinded by that magic light. The strings seemed good te me. The woodwind and brass were quite in- ferior to that in our best orchestras. Bad, even atrocious, intonation, poor balance and worse tone marred things. Some of the ineffectiveness was due to the fact that the orchest- rations were not amended in the skillfull manner which helps to make them sound so well to us here in Orchestra hall. The orchestra play- ed about like the one Mr. Damrosch used to get together for Ravinia Park some years ago. It was not so good as the Minneapolis organiza- tion and with the Boston and Chica- go orchestras there is no comparison. Played Wagner Selections The numbers were most enthus- iastically received by the large aud- ience, which prompted me to question a young British medical officer who stood beside me. About this time we were not playing very much Wagner in the States. I found out that there had been some discussion about it in London but the people very sensibly decided that it was foolish to seem patriotic by refusing to listen to per- fectly good German music which they really enjoyed. I noticed, however, that the "Prize Song,, and the "Swan Song" given with the assistance of Mr. Vladimir Rosing, were both sung ii French. fo change the key for a brief episode, will some one who knows about Queen's hall concerts kindly explain why so many young women come into the promenade, where there are no seats, coolly sit down on the floor near the back wall so they may lean against something, stretch their long legs out comfort- ably in front of them to the annoy- ance of the promenaders and calmly smoke cigarets? It seemed to be quite the thing for no one took any notice of them excepting a few astonished Americans. There were, getting back to the original key, sev- eral interesting Russian numbers on the programs for the week besides some good soloists. Miss Irene Sharrer was to do the Tschaikowski B minor, Mr. Claud Biggs the Fourth Beethoven concerto, York Bowen had something on by Saint-Saens called "Africa" for piano and or- chestra and Miss Margaret Fairless was down for the Brahms violin con- certo. Considerable music was being given in London regardless of the terrible fighting so near at hand. Musicians Mostly Old Men London did not have anything on Paris when it came to that. It seems that even a world war will not stop symphony concerts. In the Salle Ga- veau the Colonne-Lamoreaux con- certs were given every Sunday after- in the Queen's hall orchestra an oc- casioal uniform was to be seen. In the Paris orchestra ladies; two among the first one 'cellist and.two harpists. Pierne program at the first concert but be- place. and lasted until 5 o'clock without in- termission. The woodwinds are won- derful. I think their excellence would be the first thing to strike the atten- tion of almost any stranger, but the strings are equally fine. They have a wonderful group of first violins. The principals of all the instruments seemed to me remarkable with the How We Go At It First we look into the battery to see if you put water in it. Then we use the hy- drometer which is the ene reliable way of know- ing the condition of its charge. Then, if no special cause of trouble appears we put it on the line to sce if it will take a charge. But if there is plain in- dication of serious trouble we open the battery up and find out exactly what's what. Don't trust your bat- tery to amateurs or artists in guesswork, who claim they can tell inside condit'on by outside in- spection. Come here where you find adequate machines and apparatus to really inspect, ch-rge and repair any bactery, Evanston Battery Station 1648-1650 Maple Avenue Corner Church Street Phone Evanston 4445 Willa TRADE MARK REGISTERED noon in the fall and winter of 1918. | Most of the members of the orchestra : appeared to be elderly men and as' there were five violin, | was advertised to conduct a Debussy | cause of illness Chevillard took his! The concert commenced at 3 | exception of the first horn and first | best orchestras. I missed something trombone. The horns and trombones | rich and sonorous to which we are do not sound at all as they do in our (Continued on page six) = The Cemetery Beautiful LANTED amidst nature's own beauty, ) man has created a beautiful park ceme- tery. The sunken gardens, the winding paths, and the imposing chapel makes this spot a vision of beauty. It is indeed a fit- ting final resting place for our beloved ones. | MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY and ANNEX Gross Point Road and Harrison St., Vs Mile West of Evanston We want you to visit this cemetery. You will find it interesting and attractive. You should reserve for yourself a family lot--all ots in Memorial Park are sold with full perpetual care guaranteed. Suitable easy payments--no interest. Don't miss this opportunity. YOU ARE INVITED to call or write to the main office, 703 Mar uette Bldg, and make appointment to have one of our representa- tives call for you in an automobile to take you to and the cemetery. No obligation. Investigate NOW| Central Cemetery Company 703 Marquette Building, Dept. C861 Chicago Our perpetual eare funds are on deposit witn the Trust Department of the Central Trust of Iilinois. Rex ai iy | G HODS Direct from Producer to Consumer with one small profit J. E. BROWN, 1 Wholesale and Retail | Fruits, Vegetables, Potatoes and Watermelons a specialty. Cars and Store at 1916 W. Railroad Ave. near Emerson St. Tel. Evanston 1120, Evanston SUTURE ROT RE TE LL CLC Tr | D Bai ERVICE UREAU IN HOME SERVICE General House Cleaners Decorating, Rug Cleaning, Disinfecting, Exterminating We remove coloring from Tubs, Bowls and Toilets Nini Expert Cleaners, Dyers and Repairers of Fancy and Plain Footwear. The only home shoe cleaning service on the North Shore. We call and deliver anywhere. Valet service. Try our service and know the best PHONE EVANSTON 6988 SE EER TE TT ET 1015 CENTRAL ST. ! INI LR TC CT RT TTT LL] he Shoes that wear and fit and give the utmost satisfaction, are the shoes that I sell, every pair made expressly for me. children to Evanston and have them fitted to "shoes that can be had only of Shoes For Women and Children 1608 Chicago Ave. Os Bring your Qu Evanston, Ill ¢