~ t -- '* . , 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 CHICAGO GREAT AND llfrERESTING. I HAVE OFTEN HEARD HIM SAY THAT CHICAGO IN A TRUE SENSE REPRESENTS THE SPIRIT OF HIS NATIVE COUNTRY, SWITZERLAND - INDEPENDENT, OUT- SPOKEN, DELIGHTFULLY ROOGED. WHEN ONE SEES HIM ENTER ORCHESTRA HALL, ONE MIGHT EASILY BE TRANSWRMED TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE 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 BERLIN 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 AUDITORIUM THEATRE. SINCE THAT TIME HE HAS APPEARED WITH THE SYMPHONY A DOZEN TIMES AS PIANIST; 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 UNITED STATES, WHERE HE HAD BmOME ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN PIANISTS 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 COMPOSER, 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. .