$25,000 Gesture

Ever since last year, when he contributed $160,000 to the then-ailing, now-flourishing Detroit Symphony, Henry H. Reichhold has had the musical world abuzz with rumors. Said rumor: he was about to start 1) a musical magazine of national circulation; 2) a new recording company to rival Columbia, Victor and Decca; 3) a national concert-booking agency; 4) a national record-of-the-month club.

Last week Henry Reichhold really did start something. The Austrian-born chemist (who quit Henry Ford in 1927 in an argument over a raise in salary to $7 a day, now runs his own show as chairman of Detroit's Reichhold Chemicals, Inc.) offered prizes of $25,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for the three best symphonies (half-hour or less) turned out during the next year by U.S. and Latin American composers.

Since no composer has ever been known to make anything like $25,000 from a symphony, the offer sent Western Hemisphere composers flying to the feet of their muses.

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