l Lamar Stri~gfield Returns From France

Lamar Strihgfietd, director of th~ AshevHle Symphony and well known Flutist. will land in New York City tomorrow from France, where he has been studying several months. He won the Pulitzer musical scholarship last year for his ccmpositlon "Moun~ tain Song."

- . Music Lovers Show Appre-

1

ciation of Young Tar Heel Composer

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LAMAR STRINGFIELD I RECEIVES OVATION

Baltimore, Jan. 20.-Lamar String­ field of Asheville reeeived a most enthusiastic greeting and an ovation / of appreeiation as he concluded di­ rection of the presentation of his suite "From the Southern Mountains" at the concert last night of the Balti­ more Symphony Orchestra. The talented young North Carolinian, winner of the 1928 Pulitzer prize, realized he was in the house of his friends whose appreciation of his work was all the greater because he I is just recovering from an automobile accident and moved with more or less diffieulty in condueting the orehestra., He had come here expressly to con­ duct the rehearsals, and in view of the physical disadvantages under 1

which he labored and the necessarily short acquaintance with local orehea­ tral organizations, he attained a de­ gree of responsiveness and of ex­ pression very unusual. North Caro­ linians in the audience evinced their enthusiastic pride in the modest I young composer and Baltimore lovers

I of good music heartily joined in en· 1 dorsement of his work. '

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r- ------

BlAZE NEW TRAll , : IN FIElD OF MUSIC Lamar Stringfield Presents

Opera Based On a Na­ tive Theme

Chapel Rill, March 30-A new trail fo the field of American music was blazed here last night when Lamar Stringfield, well known composer and Pulitzer prize-winner in 1928, pre­ sented the first edition of the "first American opera written by an Amer-

' ican composer dealing with an Amer­ ican theme." It was not a finished product that

J\1r. Stringfield presented last night, and the author wanted that fact clearly understood. There was con­ siderable dialogue where in full­ grown opera one would look for song, and quite !!.aturally the scenic ef­ fects were lacking. Too, some of the dialogue and songs were rather "thin." But the musical scores were so well done that they more than made up for any shortcomings. The University faculty orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Stringfield, per­ formed most creditably and a clim­ actic solo by Prof. Urban T. Hulmes drew close attention. The story on which the opera was

based deals with a group of moon­ shiners in Western North Carolina, centering about the notorious An- I derson clan which for years fought

1 and evaded the law. It p esents a clash of personal liberty against the principles of modern civilization, with the law finally conquering. The performance was given in the

Playmakers Theatre, and the house

I was filled. In the audience were many who might be considered com­ petent critics, among them Barrett Clark, dramatic. critic for the New York- Theatre Guild; Lynn Riggs,'] Oklahoma playwright; George O'Neill,, New York poet; Percy MacKaye, New York critic and Archibald Hen­ derson. Phillips Russell, Paul Green, George McKie, Wilbur Daniel Steele and Frederiek H. Koch, all of Chapel Rill. These men were of unanimous opinion that Stringfield has ·an idea/ that is full of vast possibilities. The.v were unstiiitedin their praise of the ( music but thought the libretto might' be improved. . . Stringfield is not the f'irst Ameri­

can composer , to write an opera, o~ course. Damrosch, Herbert, Cadman

I and more recently, Deems Taylor, have all-tried their hands. But the Metropolitan of New York, after 13

1 experiences, is still looking for a good native American opera to add to its permanent reportoire with such hardy perennials as Carmen, Faust and 'the Barber of Seville. But here in Chapel Hill, the village

that houses the University o~ N~rth Carolin_!!, they are giving Stnngfrel~ foll credit for being the first Ameri­ can composer to write an opera bused on a native theme. _

ti

I

PLAY STRINGFIELD'S NEW COMPOSITION

Chapel Hill, Nov. 13.-North Caro­ linians will have au opportunity of hearing the American premier of a new cymphouic composition at the opening concert of the winter ser­ ieo of the North Carolina Symphony Society in Chapel Hill on Friday evening, December 2, according tc an announcement made today by Col. Joseph Hyde Park, president. In announcing the program for the

concert Col. Pratt revealed that the final number will be a _ symphonic ballad, ''The Legend of John Henry," I by Lamar Stringfield. This compost­ tion is based on the proverbial John lienry, "that steel-driving man," so familiar in American folk legends. 'I'he number was only recently com­ pleted and consequently has never been played to any American audi­ ence. In addition to the Stringfield num­

ber, others included in the Chapel Bill concert will be: "Marr iag» of Figaro Overture," Mozart ; "Sym­ phony No. 2," Beethoven, and the fol­ lowing three compositions by Percy Grainger, famous pianist and com· poser: "Handel in the Strand"; "To a Nordic Princess," "Spoon Rover, American folk Dance," Mr. Grainger wifl conduct the symphony orchestra in the second of his own compositions and will accompany the orchestra on the piano in the other two. A part of the sau1e series will

include a concert by the same or­ chestra in Durham on the evening I cf December 1. The program for the Durham concort was also announced today by Col. Pratt, as fol lows : "Hansel and .Gretel Overture," Hump­ erdinck; "Fcer Gyn t Suit No. I," Grieg; "Overture 1812," 'I'scharkow­ sky; and the following numbers by Grainger, who will also be present in person: "Lord Peter's Stable Boy," "The Nightingale and the Two Sis­ ters," and "Putish Medley." Out of town music lover , mav re­

serve tickets in advance b:v w.riting Felix A. Gr isette, secr etarv, Chapel Rill, Col. Pratt announced.

WRITES BULLETIN ON· NATIVE MUSIC

Stringfield Asserts Music of White People Has Been

Overlooked ~ --------- f;?""'"

)apel Hill, March 1.-Iama:r bAingfield, well known flutist, con· ductor and composer, who is now re· siding in Chapel Hill, has taken a further step in promoting his theo­ ri••P of original American music, par­ ticularly folk music. Through the co­ operation of the University of North Carolina extension division he bas compiled a. bulletin, entitled "Amor­ ica. and Her Music" published by the. University Press, which sets forth his Id=as and claims in regard to the establishment of "a real American, music." "Although there is a definite un­

derstanding as to what constitutes folk-music," says Mr. Stringfield, "the establishment of an American folk music has been uncertain in the minds of leaders. Negro music and Indian music have had the sway of interest and research in the past. Muslo of the white people, who are Americans in life and habit, has been overlooked. A few of our sincere American composers have utilized the powerful inspiration that i11 of· tered by the folk-music of the white man, and have expressed their a.rt through its usage,

''AU :forms of musical develop· metn have eome from the folk-music of every country. The popular trend o± jazz has been brought into activ­ ity in the same manner. The "croon· lng of folk-singers to an accompani­ ment of steady rhythm preceded that of the m_ogern era, thus depriv· ing jazz of its only possible charm to originality. Jazz, however, is not tc be listened to but to be danced by.'' Mr. Stringfield then outlines in this

bulletin the purpose of music clubs, the social use of American folk music, the languages in music, the origin of American Negro music, musical values in folk interpretations and American nationalism in music in­ cluding an analysis of jazz among his chapter subjects. The bulletin also carried a. comprehensive list of pro· gram! and phonograph record sug- gestions. . I In a. letter to Mr. Stringfield, Percy

Goetschius, one of the outstanding l , musical composers and tbeorista of \ today, says: "I am amazed at the diligence, the unwavering directness and logic, the clear, consice and em· phatie expression. It is not a hght task, and you have performed in a. manner that cannot fail to bring real profit to every student," Mr. Stringfield has also receive com­

mendatory letters from Il. L. Menc· keu, Otto Il. Kahn, Marie Tiffany, formerly of the Metropolitan Opera Company; Daniel Gregory Mason, dean of music at Columbia Uni­ versity; John M. Russell, of the Car­ negie Corporation and others.

r STRINGFIELD TO GIVE . , /'i- FA.REWELL CONCERT I Chapel Hill, April 20.--Lamar

I' Stringfield, eelebrated composer and: , orchestra conductor, will give a fare· I I well concert here in the Playmakers . I Thea~re Saturday evening, April 25. ~ I . Str1_ngfield, after gaining recogni-, I hem in the North and abroad, re- turned to his native State to devote his attention to the development <Jf . Carolina folk music. It is his firm belief that the real .and lasting music

f of America is come from the folk music of the whites. During his residence in Chapel

Hill this year he has presented sev­ eral of his own compositions which demonstrate this belief, among them being his Pulitzer prize-winning com­ position, "Cripple Creek.'' His con­ certs here have been enthusiastically' f received.

I The concert Saturday will be his last appearance here this year. The program will eonsist of compositions I by four American composers, one by George Barrere, celebrated French · flutist and former teacher of String­ field, and two by Stringfield Jnmself. He will be assisted by Adeline

:MeCall, pianist; D. A. McPherson, violinist; Hugo Giduz, violinist; Wil- '! bur Royster, 'cellist, and the Faculty Chamber Orchestra.

I STRINGFIELD TO HAVE INTERESTING PROGRAM

Chapel Hill, April 23. - Lamar Stringfield, flutist_-compos~r-eQn~uctor and former Pulitzer Prize winner, today announced an interesting and entertaining program for the eon· cert which he and the Faculty Cham­ ber Orchestra are to present in the Playniakers Theatr.e liere . at ~ :3.0 o'elock Saturday n1gl1t, whie n, mci­ dentally, is billed as Stringfield's last home appearance of the season. . The recital will feature -oru po-n­

tions based on native folk-lore. In· deed. all of the composers to Lit play­ ed except one, Mozart, are Iiviug. Four of the seven are Americans, including Stringfield, Henry Hadley, John Powell and Lee Briggs, and three of the number are fiutitit·com­ posers, including Georges Barrere the

I master, and his pupils J. Henry Bove I and· :\fr. Stringfield.

. - -- _____ , _ STRINGFIELD WILL BE \~'D~ GUEST CONDUCTOR Chapel Hill, March 27.-Lamar

Stringfield, research associate of the Institute of Folk Music here, has accepted an invitation to act as guest conductor when the Washington Sym­ phony Orchestra plays his "Southern Mountain Suite" at the Virginia. Choral Festival in Richmond, April 30. The suite is the one which won the Pulitzer Prize for Mr. String• field several years ago.

. ----.- l State Institution To Apply .

'Live-at-Home' Idea To Mus-ic

Chapel Hill, Oct. 10.-Directly in line with Governor Gardner's "pro· duce it t home" movement, a cam· paign of "home music for home folks" was announced here today

[

. hy president Frank P. Graham of the University of North Catalina. The campaign will be inaugurated,

"President Graham's announcement stated, through an Institute of Folk Music, a new University department which the trustees have just created. The plan of the institute is to

make North Carolina a musical State by Educating its people to learn to know and appreciate her own music. ! No state has greater wealth of

· folk music, it was pointed out,_ but the agencies which have been collect· 1ng it have seldom gotten beyond the stage of filing it away permanent· ly. It has n:ot been organized and exploited in practical ways. This the mstitute proposes to do. The plan is to organize and de·

· velop folk music just as the Caro· lina Playmakers have exploited na­ tive folk drama.

Not State Supported. No State funds are to be used

for carrying on the work of the in· stitute. It is to be supported by voluntary contributions from music levers all over the State. The Alum· ni Loyalty Fund at the University has made a notable contribution to· ward getting the work under way. . Details of the institute's plans

· were announced by Prof. Harold S. Dyer, head of .the university music department, who has been named chairman of the institute. The primary purpose of the Insti­

i tnte, Professor.Dyer said, is to utilize : the services of. 1";an:~! . Strie,~field, well-known ftutr~,....,.Mfl:"Ciuetnr· ~n<r

'I' composer, who has identified himself actively with the study of folk music

' for a number of years. Mr. String· I field will have the title of research

l associate. . "There is ample reason to believe I that there are in this State future

i. composers of _gr.eat _music," Profes­ sor Dyer . said. "The institutt? will aim to find and direct the efforts

I cf such embryonic musicians. Con· certs 'of our own music are to be

I' 8cheduled with the view of encour­ aging all young students of music i who may have this 'flare for music \writing.'"

First.rate Backing. Members of the executive commit·

tee -0£ the institute are President Frank P. Graham, Robert B. House, --·-1

executive secretary of the university; I Felix A. Grisette, secretary of the ! Alumni Loyalty .Fund, and Robert White Linker of the department of romance languages ·and an snthusi­ astic worker in the field of folk music. The advisory council of the ins ti:

tute is composed of people whose per-' sonal interests are in the folk music :lield, or who represent organizations which are active in this field. The list comprises Mrs. John 0. Blanch· aid of New York City, Ralph S. Boggs of the university faculty, Mrs. John P. Buchanan, National thair·­ man of American Music for the Fed· nation o( Music Clubs; Barrett (']ark, dralnatic critic of New York City; Mrs. Eugene Davis, president of the N. C. Federation of Music Clubs; Paul Green, Nationally known 1 lay author and student of folk music and drama; Mrs. John V. Higham, president of the State Folk Lore Society; Mrs. John M. Hobgood, president of the N. C. Federated Women's Clubs; Guy B. Johnson of the Institute for Research in ~o· 1 cial Science of the universitv and co-author with Dr. Eugene Odum of many books on folk life; Fred·: erick Koch, director of the Caro·' rina Playmakers; John Powell, vir­ izinia composer-pianist, who has gain­ ,:d intern.ational fame as a student'

A State Syruphony

News that a group of music­ lovers throughout North Caro­ ilna, inspired by more · than a year's patient eff'orton the part of Lamar Stringfield · is fast bringing the ideal of a State Symphony Orchestra into tan­ gible form, causes adecided feel­ ing that despite depression, hard · sledding and Old Man Bugaboo ... North Carolina is looking up! Progress thus ·far is summed

up in the recent f ounding of a North· Carolina Symphony So­ ciety; an organization which marks no limited step toward the ultimate goal. Its members have salted their investigation of the. field with a substantial dash of courage. Courage counts for little wher

things are running smoothly However, audacity to forge ahead in cultural fields wher business is slack and the odds seem well-stacked against any new 'enterprise . . . well, that's genuine fortitude; the kind which merits enthusiastic sup­ port. The Symphony Society's de­

TE termination to overcome scepti­ t. cism, lethargy and the ubiquit- 0 ous wailing about hard times in­ N: dicates that there are still some M persons left who refuse to suffen heart-quakes because there is still a stiff grade ahead., Echoes of public opinion, here

and there about the state, sub stantiate the theme that a gen eral public is eager and waitim for such a movement. From th. financial viewpoint, let it be add ed that persons wise in the ways and means of handling cold cast have viewed the prospectus with a clear-headed approach. They are no more anxious to see the ~tate "go broke" than you, anJ I. Furthermore, they are sin­ cerely interested in any public venture which in the long run will aid North Carolina's econ­ omic weuare. While it is obvious strategy to

"make haste slowly in all things", the Symphony Society is doing just that thing. Each step is the result of careful re-­ search; and the apparent fail­ ure ·to "come out with a grand splash" in no manner indicates that progress is not cautious ... but sane, sure and steady. While the Society reports a

gradual overcoming of sales-re­ sistance in the case of many brethren of the Doubting Thom­ as clan, there still will remain a group of absolute dissenters. To those, we wonder whether this "all agin' it" attitude is not something quite akin to being afraid of one's own shadow?-B.

I STRINGFJELDTO BE IN WASHINGTON CONCERT Washington,~ 12 .. - Lamar '.I

Stringfield will take part in the pro­ gram of the National Symphony Orchestra at its concert in Constitu­ tion Hall tomorrow afternoon. Well known as a concert flutist, conductor and composer, he will lead the· or· chestra in his own work, and those 1 of his contemporaries .. H~ is the first guest conductor of the season. Mr. Stringfield is research associ­

ate of the Institute, of Folk Music of the University of North Carolina, spending bis time in gathering the music lore of the Anglo-Saxon Amer- I icans of the South. Mrs. Eugene Davis, North Carolina

State president of the Federated

I Music Clubs, and 111rs. William N Reynolds of Winston-Salem, will oc­ cupy a box for the concert tomor-

1

row, in honor of the appearance of .'.\Ir. Stringfield. Mrs. Reynolds was the donor of the fine organ in Con- stitution Hall. ---·---

FOLK MUSIC CONCERT " l AT CAROLINA TONIGHT\

. - I Chapel Rill, Jan. 14.-The :first of I

a series of two concerts featuring ccmpositions based on native folk· lore will be played Friday eYening: January 15 at 8 :30 o'clock in the Playmaker theatre by Lamar String·

\

field, well known flutist-composer· conductor and the Faculty chamber orchestra. C With the exception of Beethoven

and Dyorak, all composers repre· )}

1 sented on the program are now liv- -'

I•

11ng •• What Mr. Stringfield considers the prize of the evening will be the per· formanee of the ''Noronique Danae" by Herbert Hazelman, a frashman at the university.

' Last year the faculty chamber or· ! chestra, under the direction of Mr. I Stringfield, received enthusiastic l praise for the performance given at the concerts featuring music based on native folk lore. The Carolina Playmakers made the discovery of the fine work of this orchestra last year which resulted in t1e creation of the Institute of Folk Music. 'I'he concert Friday night is to be pre­ sented jointly by the Carolina Play­ makers and the Institute of Folk Music.

\Forms Symphony Gronp Society Would Promote Establishment

Of Active Orchestra In State V1'3'2= If subsequent meetings per-

. taining to the North Carolina Symphony make as much prog-

1 ress as did the last one-recent­ ly held - the odds are heavy that Lamar Stringfield's project will come out of the "dream stage" and turn into something definite and tangible. The project was unanimously

endorsed by a group of interest­ ed workers which met in Presi­ dent Graham's office and a North Carolina Symphony So­ ciety was formed to study, en­ courage and promote the estab­ I1shment of an active state sym­ phony orchestra.

Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt was chairman of the meeting and Tyre G. Taylor, executive coun­ sel to the Governor, led in en­ dorsing the idea and urging its adoption as soon as possible. Those present were made a steer- ing committee to carry out de- tails. That committee now includes

Col. and Mrs. Pratt, Prof. Ralph Boggs, Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Stringfield, Tyre C. Taylor, R. B. House, Mrs. A. C. Burnham, Mr. and Mrs. John Powell, Mrs. F. E. Lykes, Jack Dungan and Felix A. Grisette. That committee will

again March 2i.-B.

UARY 20, 1935.

Those Outlandish Stringtields Fifty Years Ago, the Father Canvassed North Carolina in Belialf of

Higher Education for Women and Today Son is Crusad- ing in Behalf of Music ·

During the spring a eries of laboratory or demonstration con­ certs were given at Chapel Hill and nearby places with such marked success that the Symphony Society voted unanimously to continue their efforts. Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, of Chapel Hill, is president of the or­ ganization, with Mrs. Katherine Pendleton Arrington, of Warrenton, and Struthers Burt, of Southern Pines, as vice-presidents; Felix A. Grisette, of Chapel Hill, secretary­ treasurer; and Edgar A. Ewing, of Southern Pines, business manager. The board of directors also in­

clude: Mrs. Eugene Davis, of States­ ville; Mrs. A. A. Shuford, of Hick­ ory; Mrs. F. E. Lykes, of Arden;

The Rev. Mr. Stringfield turned Miss Jonn Coltrane, of Concord; to his, church in his efforts to make Mrs. J. M. Hobgood, of Farmville; higher education for women avail- John H. Small, Jr., of Charlotte; able, but that was in a day when LAMAR STRINGFIELD Earl A. Slocum, of Greensboro; V. "female education" was as contra- Vanderhoven, of Asheville; Wilbur versial as prohibition is today. It were in all probability fewer out- Royster, of Raleigh; Dr. 0. B. Ross, was in 1891 that the Baptist State right objectors to music than there of Charlotte; Graham Andrews, of Convention finally agreed on paper had been to female education, but ,Raleigh; Mrs. Cora Cox Lucas, of to sponsor an institute of higher even his most sympathetic listeners Greensboro; Fred R. McCall, of learning for females. This is not to shook their heads over the problem Chapel Hill; and Lamar Stringfield, say that Mr. Stringfield was alone of finances. of Chapel Hill, who also holds the in his battle for a Baptist woman's Undoubtedly the number who re- title of musical director. college, but in looking over the field garded Lamar as a "damn fool who Since the Federal Emergency Re­ for a representative with the neces- didn't know when he was licked" lief Administration granted the or­ sary zeal to go out and raise enough was larger than those who had the chestra funds with which to pay its

unemployed musicians small-and money·to erect the college the con- same feeling-even if more politely they are small-weekly salaries, the vention placed that responsibility on expressed-in regard to his father's

Mr. Stringfield. I project. But through the lean years North Carolina Symphony Orches-

1

tra has attained a degree of perfec- There ensued years of work for of the depression, Lamarclung tena- tion that has amazed outstanding

the Baptist minister who traversed ciously to hi.s idea in th: .face of conductors and artists of the music- the State preaching higher education frank and vigorous skepticism of al world who have come to this

' for women and soliciting gifts that many Doubting Thomases. State to appear as guest artists on ranged from five cents to one hun- It was early in 1932 before he saw its programs. dred dollars. At last Mr. Stringfield his first load of bricks hauled with At present the orchestra is known

_ realized the proud day when he rode the organization in Chapel Hill of almost as well outside the State on the first load of bricks that was the North Carolina Symphony So- as it is within its borders. Other delivered on the site of the old Mere- cie?'. The avowed purpose of the j states looked with such interest on

- dith College for the erection of Main society was to develop orchestras the experiment that the Federal Building. The institution would for creating musical consciousness Government is now sending out the open in the fall of 1899 and the en- and appreciation, and a State sym- North Carolina plan of organlza­ rollment books were thrown open. phony was still regarded as a nebu- tion. Several states have already Incidentally, Mr. Stringfield had lous goal. When Lamar proposed copied the plan in part although

preached the gospel of education so on an empty treasury to secure the most of the so-called State sym­ well that in August it became ap- services of 50 musicians who would phonies are in reality limited to one parent that Main Building with a leave their usual work and come to large center of population. capacity of a little less than 100 girls Chapel Hill at their own risk for re- But to return to North Carolina, would be hopelessly swamped, and hearsals and a concert the newly- during the past seven months the before the institution first opened born society was astounded to put it Tar Heel orchestra has played to its doors for an initial enrollment mildly. ! more than 100,000 people in 86 con­ of 220 students East Building was I Consent was given, however, for certs scattered over the length and secured to held part of the over- him to see what he could do, and breadth of the State. flow. there ensued more trips over the At last, Lamar's outlandish notion

re Change education to music, and State and the subsequent announce- of music for the people of his na­ st j females to Tar Heels, and some forty ment that 48 musicians would come tive State is no longer a dream but s: years later, Wake County beheld to Chapel Hill for the first concert. a reality. As to whether the syrn­

one of its citizens traversing the The society was agreeable although phony orchestra will play the vital State in an earnest endeavor to sell frankly skeptical that 48 promises and continued part in the life of the its citizens on music for themselves. meant 48 musicians, as Lamar stub- State that Meredith College has and It was in 1929 that Lamar Stringfield bornly insisted they did. And continues to do, is a matter which

only time can tell: But father and began talking of a State symphony whether by accident or not, there son-once an idea got hold of them orchestra which would be an inte- were 48 musicians on hand for the -translated that idea, of foolish gral part of the State life. There first concert presented in May, 1932. notion, into reality .•

Over a span of almost 50 years Wake County has witnessed two men-father and son-become imbued with an ideal, or an outlandish no­ tion as you choose, and has watched first the father and then the son translate his dream into reality. There is a striking parallel be­

tween the efforts of Rev. 0. L. Stringfield who at the end of the last century saw the materialization of his dream of higher education for women in the erection of Mere­ dith College, and of his son, Lamar

1 Stringfield, who is even now realiz­ ing his ambition to carry music to the people of the State through the North Carolina Symphony Orches-

Overalls and Spats in ,1. ~!~F~r<;>be of Composer L S . fi I ~?ld folk .song about "Cripple Creek"! ' am a r tring e d, Pro-: in Asheville. Thia number has been I nounced Individualist, Op- I recorded by the Victor Phonograph I d t J M . Company, after being chosen as a . pose o azz usic !National High School Contest num-1

/ By MARION ALEXANDER. be,:· . / Chapel Hill, Jan. 24.-Mars Hill /:fi The Mounta:n Soi:g,'' Stringfield's

College shipped him twice, and he · r~ op~ra, . whi~h will be produced went to Wake Forest for baseball. un ~r his directro.n .som.etime in the Service on the Mexican border and spr g, has the. distmcbon of being

in the World War showed him life ~ie ~rst American opera by an in its grimmest phases m~ncan composer on an American Serious study follo~·ed. Seven sub,7cct employing American folk, =: work in four in fl_ute and com-i music. ~his composition was based I position under masters in New York. on the life and traditions of the Made his way playing in concert and famous Anderson clan ·in· Western I with otchestras after the first year. North Carolina. The rare gourd Tin Pan Alley beckoned the solo- fiddle that will be used in reproduc­

ist-conductor, lured him with money, lug the mountaineer's melodies was but_ di·d· n't chan~e his ideas of music/ actually seiz1ed in a raid on a still -h1s own mus1c-the music of his rn Andersons cove and was bought people. . by Stringfield at an auction sale,

I The Music World ·acclaimed him, And the words of one of the solos, recognized and rewarded him as I "The law is my enemy-it don't do J!utist, a_i; cg_nductor, as Pulitzer ~rize j nothing for to make a man-I hate winning composer. . the law-because-the law hates He quit it all, to return to his na-. me," climaxed a colorful moon­

tive State because he believes the shiner's trial. values of the music among his own Mr. Stringfield comes' of a musi-] people will be the basis for a sincere cal family. He was born near, and lasting American music, a music ~aleigh, on October 10, 1897, the of spontaneous emotions and sim- sixth of a family of seven children, plicity of truth, which must of neces- all of whom had an interest in sity be brought to artistic compls- music from childhood. The father, tion by an American, born in the Reverend O. L. Stringfield, despite environment of the subject about ma!ly cares, of family, ministry and which he writes. social work, found time to encourage Such is the story of Lamar String- !~is children in music and educa­

field, recent addition to the Univer- tlon. sity's art colony, who on January 30, La~ar learned early to play sev­ in the Playmakers Theatre here will era! mstruments, played with the give his first publie concert i~ ·his band at Mars Hill and Wake Forest native State since his name has been Colleges and later with the Firs\ associated with the world's finest N. C. Infantry Band, which became musicians. the 10th Engineers Band of the 30th Stringfield is a musician of the Division. •

first rank. First of all, however, he The war upset his purpose to study is himself, and .that may be why he medicine. He determined to master has climbed· so high on the world's the flute. After a six-weeks tour with music ladder. the "Hickory Nuts," the Thirtieth Thia man is quite an individualist Division show, through North Caro­

in dress. His attire usually consists Iina, South Carolina and Tennessee I of blue denim overalls, white shirt, in 1919, he started the serious study black velvet smoking jacket and low of the flute with Emil Medicus of. quarter oxfords, and he adds spats Asheville. He later entered the In­ if it is cold. stitute of Musical Art in New York His wife, the former Miss Caro- to continw his studies under the/

line Crawford of Winston-Salem, a great fluti'st . and teacher, George. woman of beauty and charm, is a Barrera. He also studied composi- eonstant helpmate. tion with Percy Geetaehiua. He1 He's mighty proud of his silver completed seven years' prescribed

flute, one ,/Jf the finest in the coun- . w~rk be~ween 1920 :in~ 19.24, gradu­ try, and .a1 a :ra.:e "old time" 2'0Ut.d J ating wit? the ~rhstP. ·-~~1~Joma. in fiddle, which he will use in his 1 ~te plaY1:21!!' ana reec.v1!1g. a· prize "Mountain Song" opera about moon- in ~Oml)~sition, also wrthm ~hat shiners and corn liquor, which he period, diplo~s from the American plans to stage here. Orc~estral Society .for Orchestral His music furnishes an even more play11:g and conducting.

striking example of his individuality. Durrng these four years, ~nd I_at· He goes directly to the folk life er ~e appeared as flute soloJSt wi~h

of America for his themes and 'n- var.10us sym_]'lhony orchestrl!s or in . . . . • .1 recitals of his own. For two seasons

spuat10n; thi~ks India~ music umm- he played with the Chamber Music P?rtan~ and Negro m.usic a copy and Art Society, and for three seasons chstorhon of deeper Anglo-Saxon with the New York Chamber Music Sources .. He has. used ~oth in his Society, and at different times lp­ compos1hon, but m lookmg_ ~ack he peared with other symphonic orches­ does n?t ~nd such composit10ns as tras in New York City and at music self-sat1sfyrn~ as !hose developed guilds, and played for phonograph from the mus1c of his own race. He companies and radio broadcasting says jazz is unstabilized, inartistic organizations. In 1928 he was award. and in no way representively Ameri- ed the Pulitzer Prize for his suite, can. He believes the great American "From the Southern Mountains," ad­ music must come from the. ballads judged the best American composi­ and songs and dances of the Anglo- tion of that year. Saxon Americans. ' It is perliaps as a conductor and His theory may be challenged, but composer that Stringfield is best

the- sincere and eloquent appeal in ~no1;n. He. has conducted ~ymphon: his music must be based fundament- ies rn Aeolian and Carnegie Halls, ally on sound theory. It was music cond~cted. the Newark Philharmonic, on this theory that won him the the Nashville Symphony, • an~ was Pulitzer Prize. for the best Ameri- guest conductor at the Washrngton j can composition of 1928-his suite Xational Opera Association in 1927- "From the Southern .Mountains" 28. He also conducted the English

u . • . . • Folk-Dance Festival in New York in ;uus1c to him is a thmg for human 1928 qn D · th f 1927 · t t t h · 1 · -~..,. unng e summer o e_nJOymen , no ec nica appree11- he organized and conducted the Ashe- tron, so he never plays _or C?nd~cts ville Symphony -Society. In Jann­ a number unless he enJoys 1t him- arv 1930 he conducted the Baltl­ self. Brah;nis, Beethoven, Wagner,/ m;~e Sy~iphony, and in ~fay, 19.30, Strauss, ('.neg and o~her masters the Barrere Symphony at the Spar­ w_rote theu folk:l,ore. mto maste:· t~nlmrg Festival in. his prize-win. pieces, and now its hme for Amen- nmg suite. can composers to do the same, hel He has written more than 50 com­ fcels. It is well to study the past positions, including vocal and in­ m!lsters, but music teachers should strumental solos, chamber music and first engage the pupil's interest in compositions for small and larg~ or­ t.he present, that we may go for- chestras, which have been ,played by ward. leading orgar.izations and artist~. Mr. Stringfield's hopes are to uti- Among the best known are his "In· /

lize the folk music already collected dian Sketches," and "From the South­ by the University's Institute for ern Mountains," both prize winning Research· in Social Science, in the compositions and his "30 and 1 Folk Unh-ersity's Music Department and Soi:igs" from the Southern mountains, by the Carolina Playm:ikers, thereby which lie wr~te will, Bascom Lamar establishing here a distinctly Amer· Lunsford. His two-aet opera "Moun. ic.an music and drama based on ~~n s,~ug" an~ his ':_'Tread the Green American subjects. Efforts to get ass (music wntten for Paul the proposed new department fimm- Green's play of that name) are the d h b .1. latest. ce ave een unava1 mg as yet, ------

but he is going ahead with the work at his O'l'>'li expense. His next two programs here

promise especial treats. In his con­ cert Janu.ary 30 there will be flute solos, trios for flute, violin and piano, and then the Faculty Or­ chestra, which Stringfield directs, :i..-ill play his "Indian Sketches" and /'Southern Mountain Suite," both prize·winning compositions. "Cripple Creek," the last move­

ment of his Pulitzer Prize suite, was inspired by the old "breakdown" banjo, which Stringfield learned to play early, and bad as its source an

~wlth a wild 'Weird solo. "'l'oday wuz , the fast o' Wild Bill Jones, i;n' to· I morrow'll be the last o' me." ::3her­ wood roars and then goes down in a pitched battle with tbe officers. · The· music for the prelusion and I

for the final seene is expected to be I + · especially striking, but the so!o. "The

T . Gerald Johnson, the Baltimoreedi- L ·I u heme ·of Composition ls tor, w. as Stringfiel<l's first critic and aw s '-"-.Y Enemy," which Professor ~ ~ Holmea. ·will sing, and which brings

Based on Activitie~ of adr isor whe:i; the ~omposer started out all the feeling and hate of the

M . M . his opera while playing and conduct- monnshiner, is expected to bP the

ountam oonshiners ing in symphony concerts in the high spot. B Nortb, but Lawyer Ed Swain up in If there ever was an American Y MARION ALEXANDER. 1 Asheville has gone Mr. Johnson one opera this is believed to be 011e. In

Chapel Hill, March 28.~It would better. subject, in folk music, in treatment. be astounding enough to- write an Mr. Johnson passed on the libretto The Metropolitan and the critics opera around. native Americans. To when it contained the word "coil" aren't sure yet just what it will take make moonshmers the characters, in but Lawyer Swain, who in his quiet to make a native opera. Some think our present days of • eighteenth land understanding way has come to it will come from Negro Hemes. am;ndme~_ts! _thir?·~egree enforcers, lk~ow the mountain peoples as they some from Indian themes. Mr. an pro. 1bition-vot.mg bootleggers, wi~l let few others know them, was ·stringfield is convinced that Indian only begms to explain how audam?us quick to suggest that no moonshiner music is unimportant and dying that a piece of pioneering will be tned would eall this part of the stiJI any- Negro music is but an evolutin~ and ~:~~Ji!! ihe d Um;e~~it~ of h ~~rth thing bu~ a "worm." The change was/ distortion of deeper folk sources, that

~ un ay mg ' a'.c • made, with several others at the in· 1 the real American music and tloe real After l;:i5 years of followmg Euro- stance of Mr. Swain. who has had American opera must come from

pean models and subjects in what much contact with the romantic An- white folk sources. It will be in-. meagre attempts .there have been at derson clan of life, he having had to teresting to see his theory tested. opera, an American ha~ d~r~d to pvosecnte "Big Robert" for murder ------ write .the first opera t.hat is distinctly "1ren he was solicitor, and having Am~ncan as to subject, m~sic and made ~ gi:eat plea later in d_efense of I treatment, and, more audacious yet, the father, "Black l3ob," wlio was up the composer has employed the life for. moonshining. of the romantic Anderson clan of The Historical ·Background. r;toonshin~rs of Western North Caro- The historical background of hna as his theme. Rtringfield's opera might well be 'rhis first Korth Carolina opera, sketched at this point. Years back

"The Mountai11 Song," will be read the fine old North. Carolina family by Composer Lamar Stringfield in of Andersom produced the inevitable the Playmakers Theatre here Sun- black sheep. "Gr.easy Bill" he came day night. The composer-librettist to be known, and it was he who was will conduct, the faculty orchestra grandfather to "Big Robert," wh.o died and members of the Carolina Play- in prison laRt summer wl11le serving makers will assist, and that booming a 20-year sentence for dispatching his basso, Prof. Ur~an 'f. Holmes, will uncle after an altercation over a sing the climactic solo, "The Law dog. Is My Enemy." "Greasy Bill" took up with a half-

Blazes New Trail. breed woman. Tradition has it that However good, bad or indifferent the woman was beautiful, part In­

the audience may judge this work dian. The family balked, but of Carolina's native son and former "Greasy Bill" was resolved. Money, Pulitzer Prize winning compose'r, position and reputation were thrown Stringfield must be prai~ed certainly to the winds, an·d "Greasy Bill" took for this new blasting of music. con- his mate and went into the re~esses ventions in his continued working of the mountains wher·e they could after a native American music. live as they would witll()ut society's There have been operas by Ameri- pale.

can composers, to be sure. Dam- They farmed a bit, he hunted rosch, Herbert, Cadman, arid more bear and the deer and roamed recently, Deems Taylor have all tried mountains, and he bootlegged his their hands, but the Metropolitan in corn to escape the government tax. New York, after 13 tries, is still Other people settle.I around, but the looking for a good native American Andersons kept apart. and' as children opera to add to its permanent re· came thf'y became a close-knit clan. pertoire with such hardy perennials Considered Law Their Enemy. as Carmen, Faust, the Barber of Se- TJ1e law gave them no f-d1ools, ville. taugl1t them no better ways of Jiving, 1 Of the Metropolitan's :first ten touchecl them only to take away

tries, "Time," that fearless magazine their right to make their ~orn into chronicler and commentator , used whiskey or to settle their disputes the word "clrearv" in characteriza- man to man and live their 1:,•es as tion. The last three, and particu- they ·wished, only to erush. Liberty latly Deems Taylor'!!! "Peter Ibbct· was traditional, and the law hPcamf' son," which was produced just a few their enem , nothing more-; nl>t:hing l weeks back, fared better. less. Composer Taylor's music, f'ssenti· Mote generations eame. t11~ tribe I

ally lyric am1 charming, ma.de a hit grew more and more· apart, anil then after " fashion. Still it was not na- -prohibition. The law came tn _cr.nsh tive American opera. Characters harder than ever now, and "Black tore such names as Seraskier and Bob,'' son to "Greas.v Bill.'' "·as Mimsey, the setting was foreign, and among those caught. Lawyer Swain the music had to conform. defended him and made perhaps the

To Use Folk Music. greatest plea of his career rr-r11!ling And so it has been through all the the em·ironment out of whie,1 ''Black

155 years since Americans promul- Bob" came and the on~·sided "·av i,:atcd the Declarntion of Independ- in which the Jaw had touclied hi0s ence and set their hands to the grim folk. task of blaziµg frontier trails and j It was such a touchirg '1lea that buih).ing a new country. That is, un- the court · tempered ju~': ·c ,..ith ti! now, when Stringfield, in his usual mercy and withheld sentern'e 1o 7iw ma.11ner, has thrown customs to the "Blaek Bob" another cha'nce. hir;n-, wind, to go straight to the life and out his services to a man 'lrho was customs of his native people for his to teach him a trade. It was from libretto, to use their folk music as this famous courtroom seen~ tha1 , the inspiration and basis of his Composer Stringfield got his climatic· music. solo, "The Law Is My Enemy." Things new go sometimes, some- Lawyer Swain previously, as soJic-

times they don't. It's miniature golf itor, had to prosecute "Big Roh· courses against native American ert" for second-degree murder, but opera, but why shouldn't America wherever possible, his serdcrs han take time out for culture now, and always been expended on behalf oJ' why shouldn't the native composers the And..erson5, victims of ~nviron· produce something more satisfying ment that they are. in t.l1e way of opera bce:l.use it is "Big Robert," most powerful of the imligenous aml characteristic of us-1 clan, ~d shot his wizenly and cun- .Editor Louis Graves makes the ar· ning Uncle Alonzo after the nncle's

gument in his inimitable Chapel Hill pet bear had gotten too rough with Weekly. After' pointing out that Robert's dog. "Big Robert" drnw 20 Stringfield's reading will mark the years. for the Jaw couldn't admit of birth of North Carolina opera, Mr. this manner of settling private dif­ Graves asks graphically "And why ferences. Prison took him soon noH" though, for this uncaged man of the "For years Europeans have come mountains could never live ,-dthout

over aiid sung us the sentiments of liberty. and they took him hack to l~lian marauders Ge:man robbers, a final re;iting place atop a high

: :nish cigarett~ girls, French mountain to which his _rude board ,,rooks, and .RusRian sinners, and we c~sket had to be earned eeveral have paid hurtful prices for seats miles on the . shoulden of stalwart and gone away happy and edified. members of his clan. "If the woes, set to music, of an • How the ~tor~ Goe11. I

European law breaker and his in· It is. out of t~is .P:cturesque a:i;.n j amorata are worth s~veral dollars rom~nhc. clan; still hv:ng ~v,art, still per ticket of admission, the defiance ma~mg its hquor, still hvrng cen­ of a picturesque native son beset by tur.ie' re.moved from the '':odd. and re\'enue officers ought to be worth quite without the bene~cinJ rnflu­ at least half that. cn~e of .the htw that Rtnngfi1>lil has "?\orth Carolina," he goes on, "has taken hi' tJieme.. . .

alreadv waited overlong for its own One of the ~nnc1po1 charaetcrs lR

librett~es and scort"s. It ha~ made even named Jun A_nilerson. 'incl _the some advances in the direction of characters are depic.terl . m~st faith­ drama and literature. It is now the fully. The Rtory, w~1ch i.s hh ~any turn of Tar Heel opera. The old 1 another feud etory, is bnefl:v tlus: North State ean furnish plenty of, The AnderRons. ~nd the Sh~rwoods characters for librettists, ample I have bee.n traditional enemlt's for

1 d' f . t k years. Jim Anderson comes across

me o 1es or composers 0 wor 1 the mountains, and under an u- upon. And we do not need to go. out sumed name, ~ts the confidence of o.f the State for talent. M~; Stnng· i Joe Sherwood. He i6 hired to wo'tk field has shown us the way. at the still leads Sherwood's daugh·

.,.1 ASnt ~crsfio~dC~n 1~ The~\ h t I ter astray,' turns the gtill up to the "'r. rmg e. as cont JUS w a revenue officers. .

~lr. Graves saic1 He has taken the When discovered the ilnughter romantic story of the Anderson c~an 11. wants to go away ·with him, but that as a theme, he has used the native is impossible for a Sherwood 1md an fol~ tunes. he k~ows so well as the I Anderson, Sherwood takes h:fl ven· basis of his mus1~, an~ he has pr~- i<enaee eustomarily with his trusty cluccd a vi:ork :Which, ~VIth one poss:· rifle. The revenue offirers eome to I blc exception, is true in ernry detail , take Sl.•erwood a rnY. Th& piere ends to the life of the Tar Heel moon· ·

Stringfield's New Opera Will Get Reading Today

shiner.

• HOLLAND'S, The Magazine of the South, August, 1932

He fa developing young musicians into conductors and composers

SOUTHERN PERSONALITIES Lamar Stringfield, Flutist

By Mary H. Phifer

FOR his few-more-thau thirty years Lamar Stringfield has taken a rather centipedelike stride up several creative roads at one and the same time. Flutist, conductor, or composer would sat.istv the ambitions of the young man

with even more ti1an ordinary creative gifts, but Stringfield has the broadervlsion. Whii!e he expresses himself in tone or note, he is working to develop the young musicians of the South jnto artists, conductors, composers. Lamar Stringfield will laugh and tell you that since

George Washington, Frederick the Great, Sidney Lanier and other great personages play the flute, it is not without pride that he has something in common with these gentlemen; "presuming that even now they have not forsaken their former love." He can just as truly acknowledge an interest in com­

mon with those who have left the written score as their heritage, with those who lift their baton before great orchestras, and with that smaller company who have received the Pulitzer Award. Just now he is bringing to recognition the true

music of the South's 100-per-cent Anglo-Saxon Ameri­ cans, and is opening wide the gates on an interpreta­ tive and creative world to an increasing number of the young who have a song on their lips and music in their hearts. There is no doubt about it, this young man from

North Carolina is versatile. There is no doubt about it, the Institute of Folk Music at the University of North Carolina (the first in the country, and an ex­ ample which other states are beginning to follow) is a new trend in musical development. a constructive, creative force that Lamar Stringfield has set in mo­ tion and whose heights it is not possible to foresee.

T ILE foreword of the s_tory reaches Imel~ to a Bapti_st parsonage near Raleigh, North Carol ina, when m

October, 1897, a little son. the sixth child in a family of seven, was born to the Reverend 0. L. and Mrs. Stringfield. There was nothing to indicate that this little gray-eyed, black-haired boy would go to war, or play the flute, or make music out of his head. He romped and played, went to school, was taught to play the piano bv one of his older sisters, and begged to go barefooted in the spring. His parents, Iike other Southern parents of their

day, especially those with large families, had their hands full. The work and cares that come with seven husky youngsters brimming over with life and energy, plus the ceaselesa demands on a minister and his wife, took all of the twenty-four hours ,of the clay. Crowded in somewhere, however, were minutes in each clay taken to instill the Jove of music and the value of an education into the fiber of these Stringfield children. The father and mother were both musical, and from the beginning the father's violin, f he mother's piano, and family music took an important place in the home life. In addition, the name of the Reverend 0. L. Stringfield, largely responsible for the early success of Meredith College, Raleigh, stands today for what is best in religious education.

YOUNG LAMAR learned to play something on all the Instruments of the orchestra, piano, and banjo

included; and when he went to Mars Hill College, North Carolina, Ile played in the band, as he did a year or two later at.Wake Forcgf,_ Col~ T'his playing in the band and orchestra was just a hobby, as he had fully determined to study medicine. War changed the picture, and in 1916, just turned

nineteen, he went to the Mexican border. Uc ser ved

in France with the 105th Engineers, in the same out-· fit with Paul Green, and it was in France during the rest hours of this famous 30th Division that he learned to play the flute. His war buddies accused him of tak­ ing to the flute. because it was small and easy to carry. An accusation he parried with the single word, envy! He insists that he did not choose the flute but the flute chose him.

Back home the year after the Armistice, he went to Asheville and under Emile Medicus, editor of The Flutist, Stringfield took up his flute playing as a seri­ ous study. The next year he went to Naw York to study under Georges Barrerc at the Institute of Musi­ cal Art. In his four years of study at the Institute, he not only received his artist's diploma in the flute, but received a prize for composition under Percy Goetschi­ us and a diploma from the American Orchestral So­ ciety for orchestral playing and conducting. He also appeared as a flute soloist with different symphony orchestras and in recitals of his own. As flutist, Stringfield, the Southerner, is of pecu­

liar interest. It has been said that only the French can master the flute; can sing into its slender tube and bring out the winds of spring, the silver song of the lark, the call of the love-bird to his mate. The life of Georges Barrere would justify the statement that the great flutists are from the French School. The melodic phrasing and the flowing dynamics of the French language lend themselves perfectly to the musician who sings its syllables into his flute. The master flutist. you know, does sing into his flute; he who merely blows into its mouthpiece is never master. It is undeniable that the Southern speech is more closely allied to that of the French than any other­ the melodic phrasing, the "swallowing" of certain vowels, the elision of words, the overexertion of dy­ namics in the flow of phrasing, these make many of the vowels overaccentecl and many of the softer vowels to become lost in the echo of preceding ones, or by the soft quality of their tone. These idiosyncrasies give the characteristic speech of the South. Does this denote a people who can play the Pipes of Pan with peculiar aptitude? Here is an indisputable fact that answers in part the question. The three greatest American flutists have been born within a prescribed area of the South-Sidney Lanier of Georgia; and Wil­ liam Kincaid, first flutist with the Philadelphia Sym­ phony Orchestra, and Lamar Stringfield, both of when. were born in North Carolina.

S PRING FIELD seems to possess a rather insatiable curiosity that is responsible for leading him into

many fields in the musical world. Curiosity as to the mechanics of the flute, and his habit of digging into a situation and then mastering it as he worked his way out, brought forth several inventions on the flute. One of his experiments made him the possessor of the first flute made of white gold. Flute playing and the mechanics of the flute did

not limit his creative powers. The urge to stretch, to broaden his horizon kept him busy in composition and conducting. Today, Stringfield is better known as conductor and composer than as flutist, although he will tell you that the flute is the instrument through which he can most adequately express himself as art­ ist. He has conducted great symphonies in Aeolian Hall and Carnegie Hall, was guest conductor of the Newark Philharmonic and the Nashvtlle Symphony Orchestra in 1926-27. The Washington National Opera Association and the English Folk Dance Festival in · New York were conducted by Mr. Stnngfield in 192i- 28-29. In the summer of 1927, he organized the Ashe-

ville Symphony Society, an example of what can b1 be done by a musician with a business head. His pro; posal that Asheville have an orchestra was met by a storm of opposition, but the business men and the Chamber of Commerce of the city listened. It was amazing what he evolved from a handful of players with little or no symphony-orchestra training! In 1930 he conducted his Puiltzer Prize-winning suite From the Souihern. Mountains with the Baltimore Symphony in Baltimore and the Barrere Symphony in the Spartanburg Music Festival. His success as a conductor comes from more than his knowledge of the written score-he is a student of man and can bring forth their utmost ability by the persuasive force of his personality rather than by having to resort to sheer dominance. Besides, as has been said before, he will not give up until his object is attained. Lamar Stringfield has taken for his study the emo­

tions of the Anglo-Saxon Americans of the South, as expressed in their folk music of a people who have been free from any cuntact with Continental culture or any intermixture with the folk music of foreigners, since they settled on their lowland farms or in their mountain cabins with the first of the American colo­ nists. Their ballads, their songs and dances, which have been a daily part of their lives, were at first the folk music of their English homes. For a time these remained English until, in the handing down from generation to generation, they became richer with the daily experience of frontier life, of peace and serenity, of a sharp and bitter warfare, that brought inevitable fullness to their emotional life, and consequently changed and developed their music into a distinctly characteristic American folk music.

ATE ·n lobe:' N:J.

l ifR. STRINGFIELD feels that Negro music, written lVJ by a composer of another race, is not and cannot become American music. Nor can the music of the American Indian be said to offer a fundamental basis for American music. The race that is representative in American government will be the one to portray the musical expression of the American people.

In close touch with the music and musicians of America, Mr. Stringfield was not content to see the rank and file of American compositions replete with evidences of classic and foreign influences, nor to see the children of our foreign-born tlie greatest po ten ti al source 01 American musicians. He is too inherently an American to· he satisfied for American musicians to express themselves through the prescribed channels of classical music or merely as copyists of the modern school of Europe. Mr. Stringfield knows there is a full beat in the hearts of the Anglo-Saxon child of the South that can bring a vigor, a breadth, a simplicity and a truth to the American composition, if only they have the opportunity for study and development. With characteristic directness he turned to his

native state and its University, where already the Carolina Playmakers and Paul Green have done

pioneer work and have brought about the dramatization of the folk- life of the state. There, with the help of the University and private subscriptions, plus his belief in the work and a natural obstinacy, h has begun his Institute of Falk Music. It is not merely a;. invitation to composers to send in scores for 'crttt­ cism, but is in reality a laboratory to bring out young talent of excep­ tional ability as artists, conductors and composers; a laboratory in which the work of living American composers may be analysed and per­ formed. There the young musicians are given every encouragement both in a creative and an interpretative way. The public programs given by the Institute afford a stimulus for those taking part. That the students in +he Institute

are coming forward as real musi­ cians is proof of the wisdom of Mr. Stringfield's theory. There is one young man of nineteen whose com­ positions are of great merit. Others are now ready for advanced orches­ tral work and show unusual ability as conductors. Now Mr. Stringfield is hammering away at the North Carolina Legislature for a state-sub­ sidized symphony orchestra with a ten-year plan of development. Mr. Stringfield is never too busy

to go off on the trail of real folk­ music-whether it lead to the moun­ tains of Virginia or down to the fields of Carolina. Today, Mr. and Mrs. Stringfield are making their home on one of the hills that sur­ round the University of North Caro­ lina, and are a happy part of that delightful life of the University fac­ ulty. In the Stringfield music room can be heard chamber music, or­ chestral suites, compositions that have stirred the human heart for generations, and new compositions based on the mus i ca 1 themes of America, such as the college commu­ nity has not heard before. There Mr. Stringfield and his associates in music breathe in the embodiment of the virue people of the soil, their simplicity of truth, their spon­ taneity of expression, their bare emotions. From this absorption and environment they put into note a music of melodic phrasing, harmo­ nic structure, and rhythmic flow that is distinctly American. The same energy and spirit that

has carried him thus far will carry on, and musical America of the fu­ ture as well as of the present will have to take into account Lamar Stringfield and his "American music." Nor does he think the only American music will come from his South. He is too big for such a belief. He says this country is welded of too

MADE

many different materials for any one section to express the whole. American music will be based on the emotionalism of that section of the country the composer knows best, from the music that has been woven into his being from childhood. From the American soil will come

the music of America, individual and lasting.

STRINGFIElO HAS lARGf AUDI ENGE

n~ Presents Interesting Concert in Auditorium of Meredith i'

College Appearing in Raleigh for the first j

time in over four years, Lamar / Stringfield, flutist, composer and I conductor, Iast night· presented an exceedingly interesting concert in j the auditorium of Meredith College.l 1 In his program, which was sponsor­ ed by the ~enior Class, .Stringfield I was ably assisted by Adeline McCall,j' pianist, D. A. McPherson, violinist, and the University Faculty Cham- ber Orchestra. ' The program opened with the Loe-

illet "Sonata in F Major" for flute and piano, a work e,xtremely inter· 1

' esting from a musical standpoint I a n d in addition, being written by a flutist, well adapted to showing off the beautiful tones which String­ field can draw from his valuabje Lot flute. This was followed by Cui's "Five Petite Duets" for flute, and violin, with piano accompani­ ment, which were noteworthy not only for Stringfield's fine playing 1

but also for the beautifully soft and/ blending tone Mr. McPherson gave to his part and the precise and sym-1 pathetic accompaniment of Mrs. Mc-I I Call.

I In. his next group Stringfield of- 1 fered Gluck's "Melody," Debussy's "Syrinx," 'and Rousell's "Tityre." The familiar Gluck number evoked prolonged applause but proved to lie the least interesting of the group. f Debussy's "Syrinx"-for flute alone j

1 -was exceptionally well done and I the audience evidently liked the novelty of the unaccompanied flute.

I as its enthusiasm plainly showed. The lively Rousell work was a fit

I ending to the group which necessi­ tated several encores including a Bach "Siciliano," Schenk's "Impro­ vi.sion" and Stringfield's "A Secret I Wish." The latter part of the program was

made up of Stringfield's own compo-: sitions, based on native folk tunes, 1 and especially arranged for the Uni-, versity Orchestra. Under String­ fi~ld's direction the orchestra, which]

~ -.116aJ.J1~"u a nu m ner- of years, ago as an aid to the playmakers, has att_ained a high degree of excellence and their work last night was very good. Two numbers from String­ field's "Southern Mountain Suite," "Mountain Song" and "Cripple Creek" were very well received, the latter nurn ber evoking applause which demanded its repetition.