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§ 2 WINNETKA TALK December 24, 1627 Music News and Events OPERA IN BRILLIANT HOLIDAY REPERTOIRE Sunday Matinee Omitted This Week; "Die Fledermaus" New Year's Eve Offering The most brilliant period of Chicago's Civic opera is at hand, leading through the week to the gala New Year's eve performance Saturday, December 31, when Johann Strauss' merry and me- lodious operetta "Die Fledermaus" will be sung in English under its name in the vernacular, "The Bat." The sparkling holiday week follows a pre-Christmas week rich with inviting offerings for those who seek the in- spiring tranquillity of grand opera after the turmoil of a day of Christmas shopping. Thursday, December 22, brought a revival of "The Juggler of Notre Dame," with Mary Garden in one of the choicest gems of her remarkable repertoire. Saturday, December 24, afternoon's matinee will be one of the most popular bills of the season, "Madame Butterfly," with Edith Mason and a big cast, and on Saturday night "Tosca" will be sung at popular prices. This Christmas eve offering will intro- duce Leone Kruse in her first Ameri- can performance of the name role, Fernand Ansseau as the painter, and Luigi Montesanto in his colorful and electrifying performance of the villain- ous tyrant of Rome. Vittorio Trevisan and other familiar artists will complete the cast. The opera will be followed by a big ballot. Omit Sunday Matinee The usual matinee will be dispensed with on Christmas day, as commuters who constitute the principal patronage Sunday afternoons are assumed to be too busy at the festive board to venture to the Auditorium. The rush will start Monday evening, December 26, when "Ia Giaconda," one of the most lavish- ly cast operas in the repertoire, will be sung with Rosa Raisa, Cyrena Van Gordon, Augusta Lenska, Charles Mar- shall, Cesare Formichi and Chase Bar- omeo in the leading roles, and Roberto Moranzoni conducting. The ballet will take part in several scenes, adding the famous "Dance of the Hours" as its final contribution of the evening. Tuesday evening's repetition of "Louise" will bring into service the identical cast which made the revival of the famous French music drama so brilliant an affair recently. Mary Gar- den, Fernand Ansseau, Maria Claessens and Vanni-Marcoux will be prominent in the cast of thirty-five, singing under Giorgio Polacco's leadership. The ballet will appear in the brilliant Mont- martre scene. Tito in Finale "Linda di Chamounix" will be sung for the last time this season on Wed- nesday night and it will also mark Tito Schipa's last appearance of the season. In addition the cast will include Toti Dal Monte, Lorna Doone Jackson, Luigi Montesanto, Virgilio Lazzari, Vittorio Trevisan and a distinguished cast. Roberto Moranzoni will conduct. The season's first hearing of "Lohen- grin" is announced for Thursday evening, when the great Wagnerian masterpiece will enlist the services of Leone Kruse, Cyrena Van Gordon, Rene Maison, Robert Ringling, Alexander Kipnis and Howard Preston. Miss Van Gordon is familiar as Ortrud. but Miss Kruse, Mr. Maison and Mr. Ringling are new, and favorite members of the company this season. Henry G. Weber will conduct the revival. There will be no performance Friday night. Mary Garden Saturday "Ie Jongleur de Notre Dame" will be sung Saturday afternoon by Mary Gar- , Cesare Formichi, Edouard Cotreuil, Mojica, Desire Defrere, Howard Kenilworth Club Enjoys Musicale by String Quartet By V. H. On Friday evening of last week at the Kenilworth club, the Gordon String quartet under the leadership of Jacques Gordon, violinist, gave an evening of beauty and harmony long to be re- membered. The ensemble work of this quartet is little less than perfection, the fine shading in tone and volume delicately and exquisitely done. At the close of an evening of music of this sort, a listener feels an emotion of uplift and it seems almost too severe a break to arise and put on one's wraps and leave for home with only a word perhaps or just a nod, so the committee in charge offered a simple and appro- priate bit of refreshment. Thé audi- ence lingered and had coffee and dis- cussed the program and felt that relief of spirit after the opportunity to ex- press its pleasure. It was an innova- tion to have this social hour at the Kenilworth club after a concert of this kind but it proved a great success. The quartet gave the following numbers: Quartet in G Minor, Opus 10 ........ ara ew aaa Debussy Quartet in E Flat Major .. Dittersdorf Nghe viii gree Ernest Bloch Serenade oii Eouard Lalo An-Old Castle... av Mussorgski Titania..ov. oon Joseph Speaight Juilliard School Awards Fifty-Seven Fellowships Juilliard School of Music, awarded fifty-seven fellowships in the Graduate school and granted thirty-eight scholarships in the Insti- tute of Musical Art to applicants who took the September examinations. A late announcement by Dean Ern- est Hutcheson 'states that Leopold Auer has accepted a place on the faculty of the graduate school and that he will give personal instruction to a limited number of selected violin students. Florence Page Kimball has also been added to the faculty and will assist Mme. Marcella Sembrich who is the head of the singing depart- ment. The GREATNESS OF BEETHOVEN A recent essay by a Beethoven authority, asserts that the great com- poser's instrumental works contain, "at least seven hundred tunes, each one full of character." And most of them original. HEIFETZ RETURNS After two years' "globe-trotting" Jascha Heifetz is back for an ex- tensive American tour. Preston and Antonio Nicolich, Giorgio Polacco conducting. With the New Year's Eve bill of "The Bat," Saturday night, the company will make one of the most interesting de- partures which has ever marked its his- tory, by presenting an operetta with all the lavishness which brings the regular grand operas of its repertoire to so mag- nificent a standard of achievement. The lengthy cast of the world-famous Johann Strauss masterpiece will include such notables as Rosa Raisa, Irene Pavloska, Elinor Marlo, Alice d'Hermanoy, Lucille Meusel, Charles Hackett, Forrest Lamont, Jose Mojica, Lodovico Oliviero, Giacomo Rimini, Virgilio Lazzari, and Chase Baromeo. In addition, Mme. Toti Dal Monte will be heard in an interpolation in the second act. Another item con- tributing to the brilliance of the per- formance will be the insertion of a ballet, to be danced by the entire corps, to Strauss' waltz, 'The Beautiful Blue Danube," though the original "Fleder- maus" waltz will naturally be retained in the score. "The Bat" will be sung in an English translation. Henry G. Weber will d conduct. Next Recitalist Joseph Szigeti, violinist, who made his debut at the age of 13 in his native city of Budapest, will give the next program of the artist-recital series, which is sponsored by the Winnetka Music club. He appears at New Trier auditorium Monday evening, January 9. While comparatively new to Ameri- ca, Mr. Szigeti has already been ac- cepted as great. He has been for more than a decade one of the most popular violinists in Europe. He has appeared as soloist in America with such great conductors as Stokowski and Stock, and in Europe with the famous Rich- ard Strauss and many other notables of the baton. Music Lovers Await With Interest the Arrival of Ravel The coming of Maurice Ravel to America is an event of real historical importance. He will be guest director of the Chicago Symphony orchestra early this season. Ravel is one of the best known of living composers, and since the death of Saint-Saens and Puccini, he and Richard Strauss must presumably stand as the deans of the creative musicians of the last genera- tion. It is true that Ravel is ten years younger than Strauss, but he became noted early in life, having written Habanera in 1895, when he was twen- ty, and his famous Pavane pour une in- fante defunte when he was twenty- four, and others of his most noted works before he was thirty. Ravel's musical history has been a curious one. His style and manner ap- parently have gradually changed. His early works are of the sort that must appeal to all the music-loving world, and with them his reputation was quickly made and quickly became uni- versal. His later works, many of them, are of a nature that only very ad- vanced and erudite musicians and mu- sicians with a distinct trend toward | modernism will care for. FEET MUSIC Frederick Stock spoke before the Chicago City Club a few weeks ago, and after declaring that jazz appeals to the most brutal instincts, he added: "The music of the eighteenth cen- tury appealed to the head, that of the nineteenth to the heart, and this of the twentieth century appeals to the feet." National Bureau Aids in Planning Christmas Music So great has become the presenta- tion of Christmas music by various groups all over the country that there has been evidenced a need for a clearing house of information on such music. An effort to meet that need has just been made by the Na- tional Bureau for the Advancement of Music. That bureau has been ac- tive in promoting the idea of outdoor Christmas caroling, first revived on a large scale in this country by the City of Detroit. To its informative material on caroling, the bureau has just added a pamphlet, "Music for Christmas," which covers various kinds of musical performances at Christmas time. That pamphlet is intended as a guide, not only for churches and Sunday schools, but for parent-teacher associations, public schools, young people's societies, Girl Scout and Boy Scout organiza- tions, Campfire Girls, community cen- ters and settlements. Besides suggestions for organizing and presenting all sorts of indoor music programs for Christmas, the pamphlet contains lists of the Christ- mas anthems, cantatas and other compositions which are most widely used. It also includes lists of the best recordings of Christmas music for the phonograph and the player piano. Copies of the booklet are be- ing distributed, without charge, from the headquarters of the National Bu- reau for the Advancement of Music at 45 West 45th street, New York City. The fourth edition of the bureau's booklet on "Christmas Eve Caroling" has just appeared. This revised pamphlet tells how Detroit organized the caroling, gives suggestions for the formation of carol groups and ideas as to costumes, carol booklets and public- ity. This leaflet is also obtained upon application to the bureau. Schlusnus Captivates Audience at Recital By L. F. H. One of the most successful of the Artist-Recital series, sponsored by the Winnetka Music club, was Fiven Thursday evening, December 15, by Heinrich Schlusnus, the new German baritone of the Chicago Civic Opera company. The audience was most appreciative and at the end of the program would not leave, but kept clamoring for more. Schlusnus leads us to heights of the real art of singing. His superb voice organ, combined with his rare artistry and musical understanding make him utterly satisfying to his audience. Mr. Schlusnus expressed his admira- tion for the Middle West, its enthusi- asm and spontaneity. He hopes to return to America in 1929. We of the north shore surely would welcome him, and look forward to the opportunity of hearing him again. MUSSOLINI LOVES MUSIC Mussolini is passionately fond of the violin. His talent is such that it is be- lieved he could have achieved con- siderable eminence as a violinist had he made violin playing his profession. When he is wearied- with the vexa- tions of statecraft he finds great pleasure and much beneficial relaxa- tion in taking up his violin and play- ing for an hour or so. ;