Out Among the People

With profound regrets, profuse eulogies, the New York Symphony Society accepted the resignation of Walter Johannes Damrosch as conductor, urged him to continue as honored guest conductor, as conductor of the Children's and Young People's Concerts, in order that "this incomparable work . . . may be continued under the very best auspices." He acquiesced.

Musicians were surprised by his resignation, music lovers shocked. In part, this was because Dr. Damrosch has held his post so long (42 years) that people are in the habit of considering him as permanent as Carnegie Hall. In part, it was because his handsome, aristocratic figure has come to symbolize in many minds the elegant formality that people love to associate with "art." But mostly, it is because his music means more than clothes and calenda.

He is not ranked among the greatest conductor. Arturo Toscanini, (La Scala, Milan) unrivaled in ability to make an orchestra "sound"; Willem Mengelberg, (N. Y. Philharmonic) famed for the passionate warmth of his music; Paul Felix Weingartner, (Vienna) who loves the "classica"; Karl Muck, (Hamburg) noted for his tone coloring; Frederick Stock, who has made the Chicago Orchestra one of the three best in the world; Leopold Stokowski, (Philadelphia Symphony) the "virtuoso" among conductors: these men are widely considered to outrank him.

In the attainment of the musical ideal, there is said to be a two-fold struggle: the creation of a perfect art, and the elevation of humanity to the point of appreciating it. In the first, Walter Damrosch is no pre-eminent figure. In the second, he is perhaps the greatest of all. Despite his drawing room graces, he is, at heart, a democrat. He works less for the highest perfection than for the most good. Sir Thomas Beecham, patrician British conductor, fled England when the government decided to subsidize radio broadcasting, avowed: "Broadcasting . . . bears as much relation to art as the roaring of the bull of Bashan bears to the voice of Galli-Curci." (TIME, Nov. 15). Declared Walter Damrosch: "If I continue broadcasting one orchestra for two years only, I shall have played and talked to more people than I did in my entire 42 years as opera and orchestra conductor.... I will guarantee to revolutionize the musical tastes of the American people." ^

Most humanitarians have a flair for pioneering. Conductor Damrosch brought Wagner into U. S. favor at a time when the fashion was to snicker at the German. He, first, played the greatest Symphony since Beethoven, the Tschaikowsky "Pathetique." He sponsored

Debussy, Honegger, Stravinsky; composed the first U. S. opera with a U. S. story, "The Scarlet Letter." His orchestra was the first to lumber across this continent, and, after the war, across Europe. He orig- inated young people's concerts.

Even at the age of 14, he pioneered. With Gustav Schirmer, son of the publisher, he built a miniature stage, painted Rhine Valley scenery, peopled it with marionettes. The stage was set in the Damrosch parlor. While Gustav manipulated the Rhine maidens, Walter played the music on the piano. Thus was Richard Wagner's Rheingold produced for the first time in the U. S., (before the Schirmer and Damrosch families, admission 50c). Nine years later, Leopold Damrosch, noted German conductor, died. Walter succeeded his father as conductor of the New York Symphony, the Oratorio Society, the Metropolitan Opera, at the age of 23. He immediately executed plans for a more elaborate presentation of Wagnerian opera than had been possible in the parlor.

Now the white-haired musician surrenders the distinction of conducting before Manhattan's elite. At 65, when most men would be content to rest, he goes out among the people.