Variety (December 1954)

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60 rONttMTS-APEHA Wwliwfxlay, December 8, 1954 N.Y. City Opera Winds Biggest Tour To 215G Take; 8 New Towns in Trek The N. Y. City Opera Co. wound ♦ up the most extensive tour in its history last Tuesday <3Qi, with a 4' 2 -week junket in which 32 per- formances of 12 operas were given in 11 eastern and midwest cities, for about a $215,000 b.o. take. Some were percentage dates, others flat guarantee, other four-wall, and al-j though all bills aren't in yet. man- j agement claims it came out in the black. Last year’s fall tour, some j what shorter, garnered $37,000 profit. This year’s won’t be as 1 much, due to last-minute bookings and extra railroading hopping around. Troupe lost its Chicago stopover due to a new local company on the j scene 'Chicago Lyric Theatre', and booked Boston instead. Most of the ; tour was exploratory, troupe ap- pearing in eight of the 11 cities for the first time. Boston, one of the new towns, “is definitely the city for us. financially speaking.” said John S. White, company’s as- sistant general director. Troupe took in $48,000 there in seven shows. In Detroit, fifth visit there for the group, it did $97,000 for nine performances, or a $3,000 gain per performance over previous sea- j sons. “In artistic achievement,” added White, “it was our best tour.” Troupe got notices everywhere that ran from good to sock, and in each place was invited back. Now. says White, the manage- ment is hoping sometime to add a spring tour, after its N. Y. winter season. Climactic conditions, and competition from the Met Opera’s spring tour, present the chief prob- lems. Opera company has also been eyeing the Coast for December showings, following its fall tours, but fares are the problem. They would need a big guarantee. Growing, Young Audiences White feels the opera troupe can tour profitably, there being no cost of new productions (as in N. Y.>. and no special rehearsals out of town with strange musicians. For the first time the group took its own orch on tour this fall. White gained some interesting Impressions from this tour. Certain smaller cities ha\e only a limited audience for opera. Turnouts in Hershey. Pa., and Grand Rapids. Mich., for instance, where one- night stands were made, proved dis- appointing. Small touring troupes in previous years have taken the edge off. said White, and done the cause of opera harm. But in the bigger cities, he add- ed, interest in opera is tremendous, and audiences are growing. Local symphonies help Where radio-tv inroads have hurt opera in N.. Y. they’ve aided it out of town. People want to see live opera when oppor-1 tunity comes. And there are lots of young people in the audiences, as in N. Y. A company can’t go to most towns with an offbeat repertory like “Love of Three Oranges” or “Cenerentola,” White found. Even in big cities like Detroit, the stand- ard repertoire is best. They may be oldhat to cognoscenti, but young- sters who’ve heard about “Bo- heme,” “Traviata" or “Butterfly.” said White, should be allowed to hear them. “Besides,” he added, “an opera lover is intense. He wants to hear an opera over and over again to enjoy it deeper.” Concert Mgrs. Meet Seventh annuat convention of the National Assn, of Concert Mana- gers will be held in New York next Monday and Tuesday (13-14) at the St. Moritz Hotel. Org represents local sponsors and buyers of music, dance and theatrical attractions in the U. S., and Canada. President is William K. Huff, director of the Philadel- phia Forum. About 50 members are expected at the convention. Half of them are music and special events chairmen at universities. Fort Wayne Judge As French Backer With the Ward French ousting from Community Concerts still the chief topic of conversation in the longhair trade, name of the chief backer of French's new Inter- national Concert Service has come to light, lie’s James R. Fleming, retired judge and newspaper publisher of Fort Wayne, and board member of Fort Wayne Community Concerts, who re- portedly invested $60,000 in the setup. Fleming, who also has a daughter, a soprano, now studying in Europe for a concert career, has shifted to N. Y. to handle the biz details for International. Thomas P. Dwyer, Wall Street lawyer, is handling legal matters for Fleming and International. French, former prez of Com- munity Concerts, subsidiary of Co- lumbia Artists Mgt., took 19 staf- fers from CAM with him, in addi- tion to his veepee, Robert Fergu- son, when he left the org. These were nine fulltime field reps, seven parttimers and three N. Y. office staffers. French, over the week- end, appointed six people to In- ternational’s executive committee, in Flora Walker, Virginia Hender- son, Vivian Taylor, Harold Welch, Ben Lobdill and Norma Olson. International's aim is to line up for its own org as many towns as possible from the present Com- munity setup. Writing to such towns (and others' over the week- end, French advised them he’d have available all Sol Hurok and National Concert & Artists Corp. artists, as well as those under other indie managers. Archy Stars As Lead In Boff Back-Alley Jazz ' Opera By Kleinsinger By ARTHUR BRONSON Don Marquis’ lovelorn cockroach, archy, who typed out lowercase love poems to his fickle ladylove, mehitabel the cat. is now the cen- tre (along with his amoral feline) of a back-alley jazz opera, which had its concert premiere at Town Hall, N. Y., Monday night (6'. Based on the late newspaper col- umnist’s stories of the abused but philosophical insect and his per- snickety puss, with faithful, bright libretto by Joe Darion and tricky, inviting score by George Klein- singer, this short hepcat opera buffa is a boffola. Certainly, “archy and mehitabel” had an SRO audience purring its delight Monday night. Opus is straight lowbrow', with no hifalutin angora airs. But it fitted perfectly into the concert atmosphere, and into the otherwise straight longhair program of Ibert and Reger which the Little Orches- tra Society under Thomas Scher- man presented. For it’s a witty, amusing half-hour operissima, with a steadily entertaining score com- prising blues, ballads, waltzes and solid, honest jazz. The special orch Scherman used for the occasion was a 15-piece combo, mJinly brass and winds with a rhythm section. Opera calls for three principals (third being a bullying tomcat named bill), a chorus of four back-alley cats and a narrator. Work has already been recorded by Columbia, and now shapes as a dandy curtain-raiser ftor both concert and stage presen- tation. A competent cast carried the op- era off beautifully Monday night. Composer Kleinsinger was the affable narrator, setting the back- ground, but letting archy, and the others, tell most of the story in song. This Jonathan Anderson did skillfully, both vocally and thespi- cally, in a convincing portrait of the timid, lovesick insect. Max Leavitt gave the work some clever skeleton staging, with singers help- ing the story by acting it out. Mignon Dunn was an impressive mehitabel, lush to look at, feline in action, and a sterling singer to boot. Richard Sharretts was a stur- dy baritone tomcat, and the Four Heatherstones (Bix Brent, Mari- anne McCormick, Nancy Swain Overtone and Jean Swain) were in- valuable assists as back-alley cat chorus. Scherman and his crew nobly backgrounded, although orch at times was too loud, drwoning out singers or narrator. Classical Disk Reviews N. Y. CITY BALLET SET FOR 4TH O’SEAS TOUR The N. Y. City Ballet has been set for a three-month European tour next spring by Paris impre- sario Leonid Leonidoff. Tour, the troupe’s fourth overseas trek, will open-April 3, probably in Monte Carlo, and end on July 2. Dates will include a number of festivals, among them the Florence Maggio Musieale. and fests in Lausanne, Zurich, Wiesbaden and in Holland. Troupe also will dance in Rome, Milan. Paris, Lisbon and in Ger- many and Scandinavia. Leonidoff has given the NYCB guarantees on all its dates, and is trying to get one of the festival country governments to pay one- way overseas passage for the troupe. Otherwise, the NYCB has to furnish the ocean transporta- tion, which runs to $40,000 round- trip. Donizetti: L’Elisir d’Amore (RCA Victor). Exhilarating, cohesive per- formance «f the tuneful, light comic opera. Margherita Carosio’s sure. light but clear coloratura and Nicola Monti’s pleasant, unclut- tered tenor blend neatly in the leads, and Tito Gobbi is an impres- sive baritone in chief support. Kalian chorus and orch under Gabriele Santini help in the charming aura. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Nos. 8-13 (Vox). Volume two in this series has some unfamiliar but quite ingratiating selections, all played expertly as well as delight- fully by pianist Alexander Bo- rovsky. Rossini: La Boutique Fantasque (Bluebird'. Sprightly version of the witty, melodious ballet score by the Philharmonia under Robert Irving. Some short encores are added for extra fillip. Brahms: Songs (Capitol). Nell Rankin, gifted young Met Opera contralto, shows artistry as well as impressive voice in a varied group of Brahms songs. The expressive “Gestillte Sehnsucht” and “Geist- liches Wiegenlied” have violist Carlton Cooley’s fine assist. The lovely “In Stiller Nacht” is par- ticularly standout. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 &, Golden Age (Westminster). The early Shosty symph, terse, angular and inviting, gets a rhythmic, forceful reading by the National Symphony under Howard Mitchell. "Golden Age” ballet suite, thin and uneven, contains the familiar Polka and Russian Dance. Hanson: Symphony No. 1 & Sieg- me'ster: Ozark Set (MGM). Han- son's "Nordic” symph is bardic, romantic and lyrical. Siegmeister’s suite is folksy, jazzy evocative and flavorsome. Contrasted works make a fine coupling, both handled well by the Philharmonia under Hans Walther. Caballero: Giants & Bigheads (Angel). This is a very appealing novelty, a pleasant, rhythmic zarzuela or Spanish operetta, heard first in 1898. Story is based on the Spanish-American war, with some very spirited jotas among its neat Iberian tunes. Dashing, authentic performance by a fine group of Spanish singers and orch under Rafael Ferrer. Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades & Gershwin: Porgy & Bess (Colum- bia). Andre Kostelanetz and N. Y. Philharmonic bring sweep and drive to the lovely dramatic score of the Tchaikovsky opera. The Gershwin suite on the reverse is equally vivid in performance. Irmgaard Seefried (Decca). Lead- ing Viennese soprano in deft, ar- tistic presentations of six Brahms lieder and 22 songs of Wolf. Latter, with theatrical, impassioned love lyrics, get the right sophisticated approach. Ravel: Bolero, La Valse, Alborado del Gracioso, Pavane Pour Infanie (Westminster). Fine readings of varied, popular Ravel scores by the Champs-Elysees Orch under Pedro Branco. Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 (RCA Victor). Leopold Stokowski and NBC Symphony members occasionally show' improper bal- j ances, in overall group tone as well as in choirs. But on the whole, for Stoky, this “Pastorale” version is a restrained, conventional and at times quite moving rendition. I Bron. Inside Stuff—Concerts Rudolf Bing, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, may be sabotaging his own desire to hold down the opera debit. This is the view privately circulated in musician and singer circles. It is based on Bing’s alleged “European condescension” in dealing with his em- ployees. That Bing is a capable administrator and a progressive opera showman is cot^ceded. It’s generally agreed, too, that vocally the Met now leads the world, the myth of European superiority dying slowly, but surely. What riles union leaders, in particular, is that Bing has not yet understood, and certainly not yet accepted, the American way of conducting collective bargaining. The opinion is widespread that Bing by temperament will make “gracious gestures” to employees, but won’t tolerate "equality.” His advance offer of a wage raise to musicians had the practical effect of denying to the union leadership any claim to their membership of having secured them an advantage. “It isn’t done that way in the United States,” runs the comment heard around Manhattan. “Management lets the union save face, and the union lets management save face. Lord of the manor gestures are poison.” In short, if Bing offers one wage boost, the union is almost automatically inclined to demand more, and get it. B. H. Haggin, vet music critic for the Nation mag, belatedly paid an unysual tribute in the current issue to Virgil Thomson, composer who quit last spring as music reviewer for the N. Y. Herald Tribune after 14 years. “Since an enlightened public is as important in music as in politics,” wrote Haggin, “Thomson’s departure from the Tribune is a disaster. He could be irresponsible, he could be nonsensical; in recent years he was increasingly bored and wrote more than ever about what he imagined rather than what he heard. But he had the equipment of critical preception that is the one essesntial in criticism, and when it was allowed to operate on what was before him it produced the only newspaper criticism of music worth reading. For he was the only one with this equipment; and now there is no one.” Jean Sibelius, who is 89 years o:d today (Wed.), is getting an un- usual birthday present. Office of Alien Property has notified the Finn- ish composer that he will be receiving about $10,000 from the U.S. by Xmas. This is for royalties on his music played here since start of the last World War, and held up by technicalities of German and Russ copyright. Hope to Keep Berlin Orch’s U.S. Dates As Turtwangler Memorial Tour’ *♦ Despite the sudden death of con- ductor Wilhelm Furtwangler in Germany last week. Andre Mertens, Columbia Artists Mgt. veepee, is still going ahead with plans for the skedded Berlin Philharmonic Or- chestra tour early next year. Tour, the orchestra’s first in America, was originally set for five weeks, starting in February, '55. with the famed 68-year-old maestro plan- ning to conduct all 26 concerts on the trek. Mertens has been burning up the cables the past week, trying to hold both the Berlin symph and U. S. local managers in line, pend- ing selection of a different con- ductor for the orch. Berliners, he reported, still want to come. He may fly to Europe this week to finalize the deal. Furtwangler was so long identi- fied with the Berlin orchihat Mer- tens now proposes to arrange the junket as a “Furtwangler Memorial Tour.” Tour is still planned to start in D. C. on Feb. 27, ending with the third of three Carnegie Hall, N. Y., concerts April 1. First Carnegie date would be March 1 and second on March 30. Curiously enough, a skedded U. S.* tour of the Vienna Philhar- monic last year, with Furtwangler and Clemens Krauss sharing podium chores, was stymied when Krauss died. Now the Berlin trip is jeopardized by Furtwanglei’i passing. The two maestros had something else in common; both have stirred up controversy in the U. S. for political reasons. DOULENS NAMED V.P. OF COLUMBIA ARTISTS MGT. Humphrey Doulens has been elected vice-president and member of the board of directors of Co- lumbia Artists Mgt., top concert bureau. Doulens, with Columbia since 1938, is with the Coppicus Schang & Brown division. Now director of television and radio at Columbia, Doulens will continue in that capacity. He joined the Norwalk (Conn.) Hour in 1924 and was on the staff of the South Norwalk Sentinel. Bridge- port Post and Newsweek magazine, before going into the concert biz. Schuman Mss. to Library Washington, Dec. 7. Large number of autographed scores of William Schuman, New York composer, have been pre- sented to the Library of Congress. Schuman, president of the Juil- Hard School of Music, has given the Library such items as his “Cir- cus Overture” for a Billy Rose re- vue, two ballets composed l<>r Martha Graham. “American Festi- val Overture,” etc. 2 Opera Groups' Merge; Philly Grants $25,000 Philadelphia, Dec. 7. This city’s two rival opera com- panies. the Philadelphia LaScala and the Civic Grand, have linked forces at last. The event was promptly marked by a grant of $25,000 from City Council’s Recre- ation Committee to insure continu- ance of local opera. Humbert -A. Pelosi, manager of the LaScala, and Anthony Terrac- ciano, manager of the Civic Grand, will be co-managers under the new setup. Guiseppe Bambosehek, vet- eran opera maestro, will continue as musical director and conductor. Dr. Chevalier Jackson, president of Civic Grand, heads the new or- ganization, which will be known as the Philadelphia Grand Opera Co. The LaScala was temporarily inactive and Civic Grand's remain- ing four performances of the sea- son will be played under new re- gime. There is the possibility of sev- eral extra dates, Dr. Jackson said, and these will be sold as separate events. Under separate regimes the two opera companies went in the red for approximately $30,000 last season. L’ville Orch Airs Nightly Till Dawn Via Diskings Louisville, Dec. 7. Victor A. Sholis, of WHAS here, and Charles P. Farnsley, chairman of the Commissioning Project of the Louisville Orchestra, * have completed arrangements to keep the 50,000 watt clear channel sta- tion on all night to air the orch’s recordings Monday through Friday from midnight to 5 a.m. All music to be heard during the five-hour stanza will be recordings of the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Robert Whitney, has made of the compositions it has commissioned leading composers throughout the world to write. Project is another effort by the Louisville orch to obtain a wide hearing for contemporary music, and help promote the sale of its recordings. It will supplement audiences derived from weekly half-hour network airings of the orch over CBS, Saturdays, 10:30-11 p.m., and the Saturday matinee series of concerts in Louisville. Orchestra is now offering a 12" LP record a month to its record plan subscribers. First 12 record- ings will contain 32 symphonic works and two operas commis- sioned and recorded by the Louis- ville Orchestra.