BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC DORCEY SMITH and LOUISE BEHREND Friday Evening, February 20, 1942 THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES COMPRISING THB BROOKLYN MUSBUM, THB BROOKLYN CHILDREN's MUSBUM, THB BROOKLYN BOTANIC CARDBN, AND THB INSTITUTB AT THB ACADEMY OP MUSIC EDWARD C. BLuM, Chairman of the Board ]AMBS G. McDoNALD, President PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP, $2500 LIFB MBMBBRSHIP1 $500 CONTRIBUTING MBMBBRSHIP, $100 PER YBAR SUSTAINING MBMBBRSHIP, $25 PBR YEAR THE INSTITUTE AT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC 30 LAPAYBTTI!I AVBNUB-BROOKLYN-STERLINC 3 6700 ADRIAN VAN SINDBRIIN, Chairman, yovunin~ Committee Ju:..1us BLOOM, .Associate Director ANNUAL MEMBBRSHIP, $10. MBMBBRSIIIP PRIVILEGES INCLUDB FREB ADMISSION TO MORB THAN TWO HUNDRBD BVENTS: LBCTURES, RECITALS, PRO· CRAMS FOR YOUNG PBOPLB, MOTION PICTURBS1 FIBLD TRIPS, BTC. MBMBBRSHIP MAY BB TAKEN OUT ANY TIMB DURING THB YBAR. THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC 30 LAPAYBTTB AVBNUB-BROOKLYN-SfBRLING 3-6700 WILLIAM T. HuNTBR, Chairman, Buildin~ Committee HBRBBRT T. SwiN, ~Managing Superirrterrtferrt THB OPBRA HOUSB1 MUSIC HALL, AND BALLROOM OP THB ACADBMY OP MUSIC ARB AVAILABLB FOR CONCBRTS, PLAYS, LBCTURBS, DANCB$1 AND OTHBR BVBNTS. INQUIRB: MANAGING SUPBRINTBNDBNT PUBLICATION AND ADVERTISING OfFICES CONCERT PROGRAM MAGAZINES SIGMUND GoTTLOBBR, Publisher 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, STerling 3-6700 258 Fifth Ave., Manhattan, CAledonia 5 6690 WALTIIR H. MoRIN, Production J"rlana~er FRBDA Roves, .Advertisin~ Director PUBLISH llRS OP STADIUM CONCERTS REVIEW f BERKSHIRE SYMPHONIC FESTIVAL PROGRAM ESSEX COUNTY SYMPHONY SOCIETY MAGAZINE WESTCHESTER COUNTY MUSIC CENTER CONCERT NEWS THE PROGRAM AND MAGAZINE OF BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC 3 J\MJJRICA~ PIIOTOCRAPIIY AT TilE BROOKLYN MLISl:UM "Puppy Love," by F. J. Jordan ,. I THE STORY OF MARIAN ANDERSON choir and quartet of the Union Baptist Church, she frequently su bstituted for absentees, sing ing anything from soprano to baritone with easy equanimity. It is to these early demands upr>n her versatility that she attributes the range and timber of her voice. Inevitably she attracted wider notice. Devol eel friends laboriously collected a Marian An derson fund, later augmented hy wealthier pa trons, which enabled her to study with the noted Italian, Giuseppe Boghetti. She won, among three hundred entrants, the chance to sing with ti-e New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orches tra. Although an avalanche of applause hailed her performance, she grew despondent over racial discrimination and went to try her luck in Europe. Successes on the Continent, no less than Toscanini's plaudits, helped to break dov,n the barriers of prejudice. After her recital at Town Jlall in December, 1935, her fame was assured. , Critics everywhere ha\e unreservedly praised Miss Anderson's remarkable voice. " It is a con K ING A"\0 COM.\\ONLR IIA\'1 _IOINLD IN I ETING tralto of stunning range and volume," wrote Marian Anderson, who appears on Wednes­ Olin Downes," ... a voice that lends itself to day evening, March II, in the ninth program of the entire emotional gamut, responsive to deli the Institute's Major Concert Series. f-or al­ cate nuance and able to swell out with opulence most a decade she has been acknowledged a and sonority." Others have called it "clear and leading singer, perhaps the most popular of our silvery in the soft upper tones"; "full and warm time. Awards and honors have been showered in the lower register." All have agreed that it upon her. Universities have conferred honor­ is vibrant, profound, and strikingly beautiful in ary doctorate degrees upon her; she is the re­ any range. Equally admired are her e\cellent cipient of the Spingarn Medal; last year she was musiciansh ip and the eloquence of her interpre granted the Bok Award of ten thousand dollars lations. !\\iss Anderson's repertory encompasses -the Philadelphian who had contributed most a world of vocal music : more than two hundred to the honor of that city. Royalty entertained so ngs in nine languages. Whether she sing<. her in Denmark and Sweden. Crowds of en­ Brahms, llandel, or the simple spi rituals she so thusiastic admirers followed her wherever she deeply loves, each is treated with intelligence went in S->viet Russia. Mrs. Roosevelt invited and artistry. her to sing for the King and Queen of England Despite this universal acclaim Miss Anderson 1,, at the White I louse. became a CCIIL\t' cdeln c in 1939 when she was re­ But the path to fame was a long, winding fused the use of Constitution 1 lall in \o/ashing one. Born, some thirty years ago, in the poor ton, D. C. A veritable 11 1/w\ Who of every "I Negro section of South Philadelphia, Miss An ­ profession vigorously protested the action. M1. derson struggled with her widowed mother and Ickes, wrathful in his denunciation, arranged an two sisters against the inroads of blighting pov­ outdoor recital, free to the public and pointed erty. Religion and music were their only es- in its locale. On :~ bright [aster afternoon, cape from drudgery. Little larian began to against the background of the Lincoln Me sing when she was tlut>~ . By the timl' slw moria!, J\bri:tn Ander~on sang to more than •~ached eight, "the baby contralto" was ~:1111111g seventy-five thousand, while her radio audience her first fee, fifty cents. As a favorite in the numbered millions. 5 Hands Across· the Keys Akxandcr K1ailow~ky D ARK IIAIRrD AND OLLIE rvro, WITII A WIDE was himself a musician and who early recognized humorous mouth and a boyish expression, his son's exceptional talent. Determined to give Alexander Brailowsky manages at once to re­ the boy the best available instruction, he moved semble both Noel Coward and Fred Astaire. his family to Vienna. There Leschetizky, famous t>.lost arresting are his hands which are unusual­ teacher of an already famous Paderewski, ly flexible, with long tapering fingers. They are acknowledged Alexander as his star pupil. But what are known as "pianist's hands," but few the outbreak of war in 1914 forced the family pianists actually possess them Brailowsky is to flee to Switzerland. It was only after the curiously indifferent to the attention his hands Armistice that the young artist made his debut, invariably excite. I Ie thinks it more important in Paris. Even in that war-weary capital he for a pianist to have a broad mind than slim created a sensation. lingers, and he likes to point out that josef Hof­ Brailowsky, like many good musicians, is an mann has unusually short, stubby fingers. excellent mathematician. Indeed, he insists that There is little beyond the reach of this gifted his Chopin cycle was more of a mathematical pianist, who first astounded the musical world than a musical problem. He is also a brilliant with his remarkable performance of all the works linguist who speaks half a dozen languages with of Chopin in a cycle of six recitals. Chopin's equal fluency. Among his minor passions is an genius is so varied that he demands an inex­ exact knowledge of international train schedules haustible understanding and technique from his that was, in those halcyon days of travel, the interpreters. Brailowsky has proved him­ envy of his harassed managers. Another is his self equal to that demand. I Ie has the pro­ delight in detective stories and gangster films. digious memory, physical stamina, and heroic I lis more serious interests include the reading technical assurance. I lis reception at the Salle of musical history and biography, and the rais­ Pleyel, eighteen years ago in Paris, when he ing of animals. I le has a notable array of dogs performed this gigantic feat, was so resounding and cats in his Lausanne home, and here in the that Pleyel turned over to him the very piano United States rarely travels without some pet. which he had had built for the great composer Although he is known most widely for his himself. Brailowsky has since repeated this virile interpretation of Chopin, Brailowsky's .. memorable lour de force in Paris, New York, formidable repertory embraces the entire field and elsewhere. For years now he has been on of classic and modern piano composition. !lis an almost perpetual and triumphal Cook's tour musicianship and technical mastery are apparent through every country of Curope, the Near East, in all his playing, nowhere more so than in his the Americas, and the Far East. presentation of the romanticist composers of the Like Simon Barere, Alexander Brailowsky nineteenth century J lis Institute program, was born in southern Russia some forty years eighth in the Major Concert Series, will be given ago. I Ie was fortunate in having a father who on Wednesday evening, February 25. 6 FAIRY OPERA FOR YOUNG PEOPLE E NGI.Lilllll I IU,\IPLIWINCh. \VAS ALII! i\UY AN children in the forest srnce there is too little eminent composer and critic when his sister food for all. I lungry and forlorn the children asked him to write the incident:-~! music to a wander until they suddenly espy a little house Christmas play for her children. Delving into made of gingerbread. The odors that emanate th:11 storehouse of folk t:-~les , the Crimms' 'Ki11tlcr arc ravishing and, succumbing to the blandish 11111/ J ldll!>lllill c!JC?II, l'r:-~u Wettc decided 011 the ments of the witch-hostess, they enter. Onu~ story of I bnsel and Crete!. Neither the affable they are inside, the malevolent creature decoys uncle nor the fond mother realized they were !lanse! into a cage, there to fatten him for her on the verge of fame. But once the play w:-~s own sinister feast. But Gretel discovers that presented I lumperdinck quickly sensed its oper­ the gingerbread cookies are little boys and girls :-~tic possibilities.