Music: Season’s Start

In Manhattan last week towering Otto Klemperer marched before the Philharmonic Symphony, thrust his baton into the air and drew forth the overture to a new music season. Next day in Philadelphia Leopold Stokowski was back on his spotlit chromium podium. Rehearsals were under way in Boston under Sergei Koussevitzky, in Cleveland under Artur Rodzinski. Soon orchestras all over the U. S. will be in full stride.

Manhattan, Philadelphia and Boston can still claim to have the world’s three blue-ribbon orchestras. But symphony music will also be played eloquently this winter in Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Rochester, N. Y., Detroit. St. Louis’ symphony attendance has increased more than 50% in the last two seasons. New orchestras have taken firm root in Washington, D. C., Kansas City, Duluth. More concerts will be given in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Richmond, Syracuse, Louisville, Ky., Asheville, N. C., Lincoln, Neb., Houston, Dallas, Denver, Milwaukee, Seattle, in many another U. S. city. Women have their own orchestras in Chicago, Manhattan, Long Beach, Calif. Chicago businessmen and Detroit physicians play publicly in concerts.

Radio will spread great music again this winter. Decade ago few children knew the difference between a cello and a double bass. And many of their elders were equally ignorant. Last week six million listened to “Papa” Walter Damrosch and his National Broadcasting Orchestra, heard him talk about instruments, learned to understand their use. As patrons of music, big industry has supplanted the individual Maecenas. General Motors plans to spend $300,000 on its Sunday night broadcasts and Ford has outlined a budget almost as big. Ambitious tour of the season will come in the spring when the Philadelphia Orchestra will play in 30 cities, sponsored by RCA-Victor Co. Rumor persists that when his concerts are over Conductor Leopold Stokowski intends to act in a cinema portraying the life of his hero, Richard Wagner.