Music: No Strike

• Share

(3 of 3)

An astounding, prodigious reform is to be inaugurated this winter. Concerts in Manhattan are to begin on time—or nearly on time. This is advocated by the National Music Managers' Association, which discussed the subject in its preliminary conference. Records showed that in the season 1922-23, out of 151 concerts, only four started on time. Nine began from two to five minutes late, 27 from five to ten, 31 from ten to fifteen, 38 exactly at fifteen, 32 from fifteen to twenty, and 10 at more than twenty. The record was a delay at the start of 45 minutes. Mr. George Engles, President of the Association, delivered himself of the following remarks: "We will, each of us, promise to begin concerts on time—as far as it is possible. ... I do not believe that we will ever train the public to be at a concert on the minute, but we may be able to persuade them to be a little earlier than they habitually are. At the opera, at the theatre, people come late and do not miss much . . . But an artist, particularly a big artist, does not want to begin a concert with an empty house. ... If the audience misses the beginning, the balance is lost. "More important than all this, however, is the question of the critics. ... A great many artists, we must admit, give concerts not for the public, but for the critics, to get notices. Critics, with one or two exceptions, never get to concerts on time. Your house is fairly full. Your audience is there. You look around. There is not a critic in the place. You cannot go on with the concert. "Next season, however, we are going to try to begin on scheduled time. We may be able to train part of the audience. We may even be able to train some of the critics. But there are a few artists who have genuine artistic temperament, and those you can never count on. Mr. Paderewski is one of them. He is always in the hall from half an hour to an hour before the concert, and yet he never begins on time. There Is always some interruption. Something goes wrong backstage. He is upset and must calm his nerves before he can go on, or visitors come to shake his hand before the concert. You lock all the doors, but they get in,"