As we turned into the French part of our programme the enthusiasm became still greater, and at the conclusion of “Istar” some of my first violins discovered the composer, d’Indy, in the audience and, pointing toward him, stood up to applaud. In a minute not only the whole orchestra but the audience were on their feet and with loud cries of “Auteur!” “d’Indy!” the house was in an uproar until d’Indy, his face as red as a beet, was compelled to rise and acknowledge this tribute.
The programme finished with the marvellous “Daphnis et Chloe,” by Ravel, in which the luscious tone of the orchestra and its virtuosity demonstrated themselves so successfully that not only did the concert come to a tumultuous climax, but several of the French papers announced afterward that this work had never had such a vivid and perfect rendering before.
My interpretation of the Beethoven “Eroica” Symphony puzzled some of the newspaper critics, as it did not conform to their French traditions. These do not permit such slight occasional modifications of tempo as modern conductors brought up in the German traditions of Beethoven believe essential to a proper interpretation of this master. But I was much pleased and honored to receive a complete approval of my interpretation, not only verbally from several of my French colleagues, but also from M. d’Indy in an article which he wrote on our concert and in which he said:
Leaving aside everything that Walter Damrosch has done for our country and the French musicians, generous acts for which our gratitude has often been expressed, I wish mainly to pay my tribute to the extremely expressive interpretation at the concerts he has given lately at the Opera. Whether it is classical, romantic, or modern music, Damrosch first of all endeavors to set off and illustrate what we call the “melos,” the element of expression, the voice that must rise above all the other voices of the orchestra. He knows how to distribute the agogic action, the dynamic power, and he is not afraid—even in Beethoven’s works and in spite of the surprise this caused to our public—to accelerate or slacken the movement when the necessities of expression demand it.
The French are a courteous people, and at the end of the concert there was an even greater crowd of musicians and friends behind the scenes to express their pleasure at our success.
The programmes of the other two concerts were as follows:
| MAY 8 | ||
| 1. | Overture, “Le Roi d’Ys” | Lalo |
| 2. | Symphony, “From the New World” | Dvořák |
| 3. | Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in B Minor | Saint-Saëns |
| MR. SPALDING | ||
| 4. | a. “Pélléas et Mélisande” (Fileuse) | Fauré |
| b. Ma Mère L’Oye (Les Pagodes) | Ravel | |
| 5. | Prelude to “Die Meistersinger” | Wagner |
| MAY 9 | ||
| 1. | Symphony in C (Jupiter) | Mozart |
| 2. | Poems (d’après Verlaine) | Loeffler |
| 3. | Symphony in D Minor | Franck |
| 4. | Negro Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra | Powell |
| JOHN POWELL | ||
The two young American artists, Albert Spalding and John Powell, made a splendid impression, and of the orchestral works the Prelude to the “Meistersingers” of Wagner and the Mozart and Franck Symphonies received special acclaim.
It was delightful to hear the half-suppressed “Ah’s” and “Bravos!” so characteristic of the French audience after the Andante of the Mozart Symphony. I confess that the more spontaneous approval which European audiences give in drama, opera, or concert is exceedingly gratifying and stimulates the artist to the very best that is in him. Every artist who is worth his salt will always approach an audience with the feeling that they are as strangers whom through his art he must win over as friends. This feeling exists whether he makes his first bow as a beginner or appears for the three thousandth time after twenty years of public work. It is a wonderful moment for him when, after having done his best and given all there is in him, his audience show by the intensity of their approval that the “song which he breathed into the air” has found its home “in the heart of a friend.”
On Sunday morning, May 9, at eleven, the orchestra of the Conservatoire gave a great party in our honor as a return courtesy for one that we had given to the French Orchestra on their arrival in America in 1918. We all met at the Salle du Conservatoire where M. Leon, representing the Ministry of Fine Arts, was waiting to receive me. With the Conservatoire Orchestra were various French masters, including the venerable Gabriel Fauré, and Messager, the conductor.