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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1924)
THE BATTALION ■ VALUABLE HINTS ON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROGRAM TO THE STUDENTS. There is no one, no matter how little he knows about music, who can fail to get a great deal of pleasure from the performance of a Symphony Orchestra. And music is one of those sources of human pleasure that no one can afford to neglect, the more one hears, the more one enjoys. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which will play in the new auditorium on the afternoon and evening of Sat urday, April 5,- has arranged its pro gram with special reference to an audience of men who have presumab ly not been musically educated. All its numbers are chosen not only for their solid musical worth but for their tunefulness as well, and any student of the college who likes mu sic in any form must enjoy this pro gram. One of the most frequent com plaints on this campus where com plaints are not infrequent, has as its burden the distance of the college from any city and from the advan tages and diversions that a city of fers. There is only one gift of city life that is generally denied us here, and that is good music. All the oth er advantages can be had at College Station in one form or another, but good music well performed is cer tainly rare. It is for this reason that a special appeal is made to the students to at tend the concert or concerts of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. More than enough seats have already been sold to assure the financial success of the ventture, but that is not the only nor even the chief consideration. It would seem a pity that such a good opportunity for a high type of pleas ure should be neglected by those for whose benefit the concerts were chief ly arranged. It is for this reason that this page or so of explanation and comment is published, several of those campus people who live on the campus and who are deeply interest ed in music, cooperate to furnish in formation and comment which it is hoped will be the means of some stu dent’s enjoying the music more than he would have enjoyed it otherwise. Tickets for the concerts ate on sale at the Y. M. C. A. at $1.00 each. The Programs. (A star marks each selection which is analyzed below). Saturday Afternoon. (Soloist: Madame Graziella Pam- pari, harpist). 1. Ganz: St. Louis Symphony March. 2. Lassen: Festival Overture. 3. Pierne: Concert Piece for Harp and Orchestra. *4 Tschaikowsky: Andante Canta- bile from the Second Movement of Symphony Number 5. 5. Saint-Saems: Tarantella for flute, clarinet and orchestra. 6. Granger: (a) Irish Tune. (b) Shepherd’s Hey. 7. Moszkowsky: Malaguena. Saurday Evening. (Soloist: Helen Traubel, soprano). 1. Hadley: Overture “In .Bohe mia.” *2. Dvorak: “The New World Symphony.” (a) Adagio: Allegro (b) Large. (c) Scherze. (d) Finale: Allegro con Fuoco. Intermission. *3. Wagner: Overture to Tann- hauser. *. Wagner: Aria, “Dich Teure Halle” from Tannhauser (by Miss Traubel). *5. Tschaikowsky: Slavic March. THE OVERTURE TO TANNHAUSER by Richard Wagner (Selection number 3 on the pro gram for Saturday evening). Richard Wagner was the first oper atic composer who told the whole story of his play by means of the music itself. In his overtures, or preludes to the operas, he states the themes of his dramas in miniature. “Tannhauser,” for example, is the story of a knight in whose nature two distinct elements were struggling —the religious and the sensual—a sense of duty and a mad lust for selfish gratification. In the opera it self Tannhauser first comes under the holy influence of a band of pil grims. Later he is lured by Venus, the pagan goddess of pleasure, into the “Venus Mountain,” where he is held charmed by all the devices of the wily goddess and her beautiful followers. Finally the religious note comes back into his life, and he re turns to his former lofty purpose— his nature enriched, however, by the awakening of his senses. The overture, which is to be played by the Symphony Orchestra on Sat urday evening, is a sketch in music instead of in words, of this whole story. It opens with the famous Pil grims’ Chorus, which speaks for the religious element in a man’s nature —all his aspirations to be a better man—all his devotion to whatever is his ideal of perfection. When it first appears in the overture, this religi ous motive is absolutely in control, without any disturbing element. A little later, we can hear the swirl of entirely different feelings coming into the music through the flutes. The religious element is still in power in Tannhauser’s nature, but I Venus has begun her call and there is a struggle between the two forces, i The swirl of flutes grows more and I more insistent, and the first section ! of the overture ends with the religi- 1 ous motive conquered and pushed in to the background by the clamor of the senses. The next section of the overture expresses the absolute abandonment by Tannhauser of his ideal, and his complete conquest by Venus. There ; are wild dance movements and pass ages of intense and sensuous tender ness. The Venus music works up to a terrific climax of furious self- abandonment, and this section ends on the full pagan note. At last, however, the old hopes and aspirations begin again to assert themselves as the Pilgrims’ Chorus reappears in the music. At first it is violently opposed by the Venus music, which whirld up and down the scale on the flutes. But the great chorus grows stronger and more son- fident. The Venus music is con quered but not eliminated. It per sists (more harmoniously, however) to the end, which marks the final co ordination of all the powers of the man—his senses and his intellect all brought joyfully and willingly under the control of a dominating and pur poseful idealism. After having gone to the extremes of religious self-de nial and sensual abandon, Tennhauser passes out o fthe overture as the fully developed and coordinated hu man being. The symphony “From the New World” by the Czech composer Ar.- ton Dvorak, to be played by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the evening concert on Aprik 5, is of in terest to Americans not only for its beauty, which appeals to lovers of music everywhere, but also because it was composed in America. Though characteristic of the Bohemian folk song manner and of Dvorak’s own style, it embodies certain character istics of negro folk' music, one pass age bearing a marked resemblance to “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” To judge by the frequency of pre sentation, this symphony is one of the most popular of those that have been played in recent years by Amer ican orchestras. The presentation of “From the New World” will give College and Bryan a rare opportunity to enjoy a complete symphonic work in a most interesting variety of tone colors. Undoubtedly one of the favorite passages will be the solo played by the English horn, an instrument seldom heard in Brazos county. The “Tarantella,” (by Saint-Saens, a living French composer) which is number five on the afternoon pro gram, is a vehement dance duet which is very popular with Neapoli tan peasants. It is supposed to take its name from the convulsions re sulting from the bite of the taran tula. The Andante Cantabile from Tschaikowsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor lends considerable color—as does the phrase of Milton “most musical, most melancholy”—to the theory of Edgar Allan Poe that the highest tone of beauty is sadness. Mr. Philip H. Goepp, in the third series of “Symphonies and Their Meaning,” says of this movement: “It is a won derful elegy, a yearning without hope, a swan-song of desire, sadder almost than the frank despair of the Finale of the Pathetique symphony —pulsing with passion, gorgeous with a hectic glow of expressive beauty, moving too with a noble grace. Though there is a foil of lighter humor, this is overwhelmed in the fateful gloom of the returning main motto.” The air, “You, Dear Hall” (“Dich Teure Halle”) which is sung by Miss Traube on Saturday evening, is taken from Wagner’s opera, “Tannhauser,” the theme of which has been given above. It is the song of joy and thanksgiving which the beautiful Elizabeth sings to celebrate Tann hauser’s return to his former nobility of life, and his reentry into the grand ball which had been the scene of his early triumps, and which Elizabeth had shunned while her knight was living under the spell of Venus. Dimensions, Please? Kansas City Star: Mrs. Smith was doing her shopping, and decided to buy something for herself. She ap proached a saleslady and said: “I want a dress to put on around the house.” “Very well, madam,” said the sales lady, “how large is your house?” •f* ““ "" 1 • BUY HER A BOX OF j BEAUTIFUL | STATIONERY j FOR | EASTER WE HAVE IT | WALLACE PTG. CO. * 4 .