Benedictine College - Raven Yearbook (Atchison, KS)

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Lf page 57 A Cappella Choir, first row, left to right-Basil Finken, james Hoge, Brendan Downey, Bernard Gervais, Hugh DeMar, Eugene Dehner. Top row-Anselm Llewellyn, Gerard Nathe, Andrew Dean, Jerome Koval, Gabriel LaRocque, Leonard Nowacek, Timothy Fry. On the last concert of the year, May 29, the orchestra will perform a symphony composed by the Rev. Andrew Green, O.S.B., formerly head of the department of music. The soloist again will be Eugene Drimmel, who will play the Bruch Violin concerto in G minor. Besides these public appearances the orchestra also gave bi-Weekly half-hour concerts broadcast- ed over the local ratio station KVAK. Classical pieces, interspersed with songs, novelties and overtures, were featured on the air waves. In no small measure is the credit for the orchestra's success due to Prof. McKenzie. His sparkling personality and recognized musician- ship has endeared him in the memory of those who came into contact with him as a conductor and as a teacher of violin and theory. Professor Herbert Krumme demonstrated his organ virtu- osity at a recital on the Orgatron in january. Throughout the year his students in piano have shown his teaching ability. The sound-proof broadcasting studio, a re- juvenated room in the refectory building, housed the orchestra in its broadcasts and practices. It was also the scene of the bi-weekly Musical Variety programs, serving as an outlet for the talent of the student musicians. Frequently ap- pearing as soloists were Vic Barbieri, accordion, Joe Crookshanks, trumpet, Eugene Drimmel, violin, Bruce Kettenbeil, trumpet and French horn, Archie Lang, clarinet and tenor, Raymond Miller, tenor, Jack Roche, tenor, and Clinton Page 21 Rev. Maurus Kennedy, O.S.B. ing, Head of Music and Dramatics Departments Simmons, trombone. Archie Lang, Chicago soph- omore, was featured in a program of popular songs twice a week throughout the year over sta- tion KVAK. The influence of the college swing band, the Ravens of Rhythm, led by Vic Barbieri, was felt in the surrounding territory. This year proved to be most successful for the jivers. They had several long public engagements, and also crashed into the students' hearts in providing the lively tunes for the press dance, the Head- line Hop.

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Strike The Golden Lyre TE ls: . 3 .-:iss . , -v.:f-- , an ' ll 'wif l John C. McKenzie Director of Symphony Orchestra ALTHOUGH college students are traditionally suspicious of attempts to foist on them anything bearing the slightest tinge of culture, the Rev. Maurus Kennedy, O.S.B., fearlessly led St. Bene- dict's music and dramatics department into the wilds of the darkest and most deserted spot on the campus, the college auditorium whenever musical productions are being staged, and before the year was out had built up a student following to be proud of. Music interest has zoomed at St. Benedict's during the past few years and to Father Maurus as the guiding light is due much credit. Bellini's stirring Norma Overture played by symphony orchestra opened a year of extraor- dinary musical activity. The orchestra, conduct- ed by Professor john C. McKenzie, presented four public concerts given in the college audi- torium during the season of 1939-40, featuring various soloists. In the first concert on Novem- ber 8 Eugene Drimmel, sophomore and concert- master, interpreted Gipsy Airs by Sarasate, leaving no doubt as to his extraordinary talent. An all-French program or orchestral music was presented on December 17. The soloist was George Schaefer, senior pianist, who together with the orchestra performed Cesar Franck's Variations Symphoniques. Schaefer's piano re- cital, April 3o, was acclaimed as the outstanding achievement of the year. An unusual feature took place at the third concert on February 29, when Prof. McKenzie invited a promising young pianist to be the soloist. Miss Bernadine Pretz, sixteen-year-old niece of the Rev. Pius Pretz, O. S.B., and the Rev. Paschal Pretz, O.S.B., pro- fessors of mathematics and physics, respectively, performed the well-known Concerto in A-minor by Edward Grieg. St. Benedict's College Symphony Orchestra, left to right-George Schaefer, Dorothy Bacon, Thomas McCreedy, Joe Goodwin Cstandingj, Janis Kenner, Eugene Drimmel, james Hagen, Father Pius Cbackj, Jack Murphy, Fredia Thorsson, Robert Kenner, Professor McKenzie, Father Hugh, Mrs. Ruby Moore, Father Edward, Bruce Kettenbeil, Jack Keithline, Father Paschal, Ruth Tappen, Frank Mannott, Joe Wachtel Cbackj, Vic Barbieri, Clint Simmons, Duane McKenzie, William Lyke, Archie Lang, Joe Crookshanks, James Kelley. l Page 20

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Central 'figure in the irrposing Passion Play presented by members of St. Benedict's and Sacred Heart parishes and the college is that of the Christus, here portrayed by the Rev. Mark Merwick, O.S.B. Several college actors may be observed hiding behind the false shrubbery at the left. The Play's he Thing TWO stellar productions complete the roster of dramatic productions offered by St. Benedict's college this year. What was lacking in quantity, however, was more than replaced by quality. The names of the two productions, Murder in the Cathedral and T he Passion and Death of Our Lord, will give the reader an inkling of their quality. Combine this W.th the knowledge that the directors were the Rev. Maurus Kennedy, O. S.B., director of dramatics, and Sister Benedicta Howe, O.S.B., director of dramatics at Mount St. Scholastica College, that the Twin Col- lege Players contributed to the casts and every- one will be apprised of the excellent quality with which they were presented. Robert Sheldon, yf1,7, portrayed the character of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Other members of the cast from St. Benedict's were Paul Wentworth, Maurice Nugent, Karl Kappel, Francis Donnelly, john Van Rheen, james Gronstal, Henry Gardner, and William Curtin. Bob Sheldon, without a doubt the out- standing actor, portrayed the role of Thomas a Becket with such vividness and reality that even his spiritual struggles and temptations were clearly revealed to the audience. He portrayed an archbishop in the throes of bitter temptations- the desire for pleasure, power, compromise, and, most agonizing of all, the sin of spiritual pride- but rising in his greatness above them all. The consensus among those who have witnessed a great many of the college productions is that it was the greatest play ever produced by the Twin College Players. The abbey a Cappella choir, under the direc- tion of the Rev. Anselm Llewellyn, O.S.B., formed a musical background to the drama. The choir has spent years in perfecting its technique and its contribution to the play added greatly to the atmospheric effectiveness of this play with the twelfth century setting. Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot has been presented in London and New York before large audiences. Elio 's masterpiece utilizes a medium which has been practically a lost art. He used poetic drama to tell the tragic story of Thomas a Becket, his trials, his temptations, and his martyrdom. Costumes, historically accurate and in keeping with the scenes, were correct in every detail in accordance with the raiment of the period. The production was staged January 25th and 26th in Atchison and February 26th and 27th in the Municipal Auditorium of Kansas City, Missouri, scoring a tremendous hit in both cities. Page 22