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. , RUDOLHI GANZ. T:iGOfL-w VV\. ~

I AM SINGULARLY HONORED, AS A CHICAGOAN BY ADOPl'ION OF ONLY

TWELVE YEARS, TO PLAY A PART IN THE CEREMONY THIS EVENING PAYING

TRIBUTE TO A CHICAGOAN BY ADOPl'ION OF FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS, A CHICAGOAN

WR WHOM I HAVE GREAT RESPECT AND DEVOTION.

WR RUDOLPH GANZ IS TRULY A CHICAGOAN. HE REPRESENTS THE KIND

OF SPIRIT WHICH MADE AND WHICH KEEPS GREAT AND llfrERESTING.

I HAVE OFTEN HEARD HIM SAY THAT CHICAGO IN A TRUE SENSE REPRESENTS

THE SPIRIT OF HIS NATIVE COUNTRY, - INDEPENDENT, OUT-

SPOKEN, DELIGHTFULLY ROOGED.

WHEN ONE SEES HIM ENTER HALL, ONE MIGHT EASILY BE

TRANSWRMED TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND IMAGINE THAT HE IS

STRIDING DOWN THE GALERIE AUX GLACES OF VERSAILLES, IN BUCKLED SHOES,

KNEE PANTS AND WEARING A POWDERED WIG. I FEEL SURE THAT HAD HE LIVED

IN THAT &roCH IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GANZ INSTEAD OF LULLI WHO WROTE MUSIC ~ WR LOUIS XIV ,.. WR MOLIERE'S PLAYS VmICH COMBINE MUSIC WITH DRAMA. I AM SURE THAT HIS WIT AND GRACE WOULD HAVE MADE HIM A FAVORITE IN A

COURT THAT WAS NOTED WR BOTH.

BUT HE IS, INSTEAD, THE REPRESENTATIVE, THE LINK, IN FACT, BE-

T\'fEEN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT, WITH A JOYFUL AND HOPEFUL EYE TO THE

FUTURE. AT EIGHTY, HE CAN RFl}ALL FROM HIS OWN EXPERIENCES THE EUROPEAN

ARTISTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH

CENTURIES, YET HE CAN REPRESENT WR EUROPE TODAY THE BEST WHICH THIS

YOUNG, EAGER AND VITAL CITY HAS PRODUCED.

HE IS AND HAS BEEN A PART OF THE CULTURAL LIFE OF THIS CITY AT

MANY LEVELS. LAST SUNDAY HE PLAYED BFl}AUSE HE WANTED TO ~TCOUR.AGE A

YOUNG CONDUCTOR IN WHOM HE BELIEVES, AND NEXT MONTH HE MAY AGAIN UN-

SELFISHLY GIVE OF HIS TALENT AND ENERGY TO THOSE WEO NEED HIS ENCOURG:EUENT RUOOLPH GANZ, CHICAGOAN -2-

AND SUPPORT. HE IS INDEED TIRELESS IN HIS PHYSICAL ENERGY, AND LJMIT­

LESS IN THE VARIETY OF HIS INTERESTS AND HIS SELFLESS DEVOTION TO THE

CAUSE OF GOOD MUSIC AIm ~ HUMAN BEINGS.

IT WAS MY PLEASURE TO SERVE FUR SEVERAL YEARS AS A MJ!l;iBER OF THE

BOARD OF THE CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE BEFORE IT JOINED ROOSEVELT UNIVER-

SITY. THOSE WERE TRYING DAYS. THERE WAS NEVER ENOUGH MONEY; THE BUILD-

ING WAS IN NEED OF REPAIR.

ON MANY OCCASIONS, THE SESSIONS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES WERE

GLOOMY AND DISPIRITED, EXCEPl' FUR ONE INHERENTLY AND INCORRIGIBLY

OPl'IMISTIC PERSON - DR. GANZ, HIMSELF. CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE WAS SO

MUCH A PART OF HIM THAT HE COULD NEVER CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF ITS

CLOSING. TO PARAPHRASE CHURCHILL, DR. GANZ DID NOT B~OME PRESIDENT OF

THE COLLIDE IN ORDER TO PRESIDE AT ITS LIQUIDATION.

HE HAD BEEN ENGAGED TO HEAD THE PIANO DEPARTMENT IN THE OOLLIDE

BY DR. ZIIDFIELD IN IN 1900, IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS DEBUT WITH

THE ffiIIlIARMONIC ORCHESTRA. HE WAS SO YOUNG IN APPEARANCE, YET SO

CAPABLE, THAT DR. ZIIDFIELD SUGGESTED TO HIM THAT HE CLAIM TO BE 28

INSTEAD OF 23, WHICH HE WAS AT THAT TIME.

TODAY, AS IN 1900, PROFESSOR GANZ TEACHES FROM THIRTY TO FURTY

HOURS A WEEK, A SCHEDULE WHICH WOULD HORRIFY MOST UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS

AND, INCIDENTALLY PROBABLY KILL THEM. IN ADDITION TO HIS DUTIES AS

HEAD OF THE PIANO DEPARTMENT, DR. GANZ WAS COMPOSING, PLAYING CONCERTS

AND CONTRIBUTING TO MUSICAL ,. EVENTS ON ALL SIDES. AT THE SAME TIME HE

WAS B~OMING, WITH HIS CHARMING WIFE, A SOLID MEMBER OF THE SOCIAL AND

CULTURAL LIFE OF CHICAGO. RUDOLPH GANZ, CHICAGOAN -3-

IN 1901 HE PLAYED HIS FIRST AMERICAN GROUP AT THE ILLINOIS

TEACHERS' CONVENTION - MASON, SHERWOOD AND MACDOWELL. HIS CLOSE

ASSOCIATION WITH THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY BIDAN IN 1903 UNDER THIDDORE

THOMAS AT THE OLD . SINCE THAT TIME HE HAS APPEARED

WITH THE SYMPHONY A DOZEN TIMES AS ; HE HAS CONDUCTED IT OFTEN,

AND HE HAS PERFORMED SEVERAL OF HIS OWN LA.RGER COMPOSITIONS WITH THE

SYMPHONY. KOBELIK PLAYED HIS LATEST SYMPHONIC WORK THREE TIMES,

SYMPHONIC OVERTURE FOR AN UNWRITTEN COMEDY - "LAUGHTER •• YE1' LOVE..u AND

FRITZ REINER WILL PLAY IT ON FEBRUARY 21-22.

IN 1905 RUDOLPH GANZ LEFT CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE FOR SEVERAL

YEARS OF TOURING IN CONCERT THROUGHOUT THE , WHERE HE HAD

BmOME ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN OF OUR DAY. BEFORE HIS RETURN

TO CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE IN 1928, HE ADDED ANOTHER BRILLIANT ACCOMP­

LISHMENT TO HIS CAREER, AS CONDUCTOR OF THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY.

IN 1933, DR. GANZ TOOK THE HELM OF THE CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE AS

PRESIDENT. HIS COURSE LAY CLEAR BEroRE HIM - THAT OF MAKING CHICAGO

MUSICAL COLLIDE A FIRST CLASS MUSICAL COLLIDE, BOTH ACADEMICALLY AND

ARTISTICALLY. IN 1936 THE COLLIDE BIDAME A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION,

.AND IN APRIL 1936 DR. GANEf AMBITION roR THE COLLIDE ACAD:FHICALLY WAS

REALIZED WREN IT WAS GIVEN FULL ACCREDITATION BY THE NORTH CENTRAL

ASSOCIATION OF COLLIDES AND SEXJONDARY SCHOOLS, THE MID-WEST ACCREDITING

AGENCY roR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING.

ONE IS ENDOWED BY GOD WITH THE KIND OF MUSICAL TALENT WHICH

RUDOLPH GANZ ENJOYS. IT MUST BE NURTURED AND roLISHED AND KEPr AT ITS

HIGHEST PEAK AIJNAYS, BEJAUSE TALENT WITHOUT HARD WORK BEXJOMES SEXJOND

CLASS.

ONE'S CHARACTER, HIS INNER RESOURCES, HIS FORCEFULNESS ARE THE " . 1

RUDOLPH GANZ, CHICAGOAN -4-

RESULT~ OF HIS OWN ABILITY, HIS SELF-DISCIPLINE, AND HIS MATURITY.

DIFFICULTY AND ADVERSITY ARE THE TESTS OF ONE'S CHARACTER. AT SUCH

TIMES THE ENLIGHTENED MAN MAY TURN INWARD TO THAT RESERVOIR OF STRENGTH

WHICH MATURITY HAS BROUGHT HIM.

IT IS OF RUDOLPH GANZ t S STRENGTH OF CHARACTER WHICH I WISH TO

SPEAK ESPEnIALLY AT THIS TIME. I SAW HIM KEEP HIS HEAD EREX)T ,AS THE

SYMBOL OF HIS STRENGTH, WREN IT SEFlIlED TO SOME OF US OF LESSER FAITH

THAT THERE COULD BE NO FUTURE FOR THE CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE. HE NEVER

WAVERED. LIKE A GREAT STRATIDIST WHO CHANGES HIS PACE, WHO EXPLORES NEW

FIELDS, WHO TRIES NEW ROLES, RUDOLPH GANZ FACED EACH NEW CRISIS WITH

BOLD COURAGE.

AND AT LAST HE SUCCEEDED BRILLIANTLY, AS HE AD'lAYS DOES. CHICAGO

MUSICAL COLLIDE BPlJAME AN INTIDRAL PART OF THAT YOUNG} VIGOROUS INSTI­

TUTION, ROOSEVELT COLLIDE AND ULTIMATELY OF ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY. HIS

CAREER AS , CONDUCTOR, COLLIDE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT HEAD,

PRESIDENT NOW GAVE WAY TO THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AND PRESIDENT

EMERITUS. SO FAR AS I KNOW, NO OTHER MAN EVER BPlJAME A UNIVERSITY

PROFESSOR AT HIS AGE IN LIFE. THE CITY OF CHICAGO OWES A DEBT OF GRATI­

TUDE TO PRESIDENT EDWARD SPARLING, ~EANZA AND THEIR COLLEAGUES FOR THEIR ROLES IN CONTINUING CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLIDE.

I CAN IMAGINE A CEREMONY IN RUDOLPH GANZ RPlJITAL HALL TWENTY YEARS

FROM NOW WHEN RUDOLPH REACHES ONE HUNDRED. MOST OF US HERE THIS EVENING

WILL PROBABLY HOBBLE IN TO ATTEND THE CONCERT AFTER EATING OUR DINNER

OF GRUEL AND MILK. I CAN ENVISION RUDOLPH'S PERFORMING BRILLIANTLY,

AND LATER IN THE EVENING, WHILE ACCEPTING ACCLAIM OF HIS THOUSANDS OF

FRIENDS, ASKING FOR A MANHATTAN WITH TWO CF",ERRIES.