Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music - Opus Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 22 text:

-r- MU PHI EPSILON : N NATIONAL MUSIC HONOR SOCIETY Call your list and report how many will attend the meeting. This is a pitch-in supper and we must tell the hostess how many to expect. Orders from head- quarters! (At least the telephone chairman to her committee). The activities of another year are under way for Kappa Chapter. This first meeting was certainly a busy one for it combined a business meeting, Musicale, and Convention Report. September 29 we entertained women students of Jordan with a Reception at the Conservatory. Mari Wagner and Virginia Leyenberger combined talents to present a group of numbers for ' cello and harp; Mildred Reimer, accompanied by Mae Engle, sang; and Louise Swan and Marian Laut brought the program to a close with compositions for two pianos. Yes, it was a gala occasion, and we certainly hoped our guests received enjoyment from the unusual program that was presented. Opposite November 13 our yearbook says, Founder ' s Day Celebration and Initiation. It really was a celebration! If the Propylaeum could talk, it would probably include among its interesting memoirs the wonderful time the Mu Phis had there November 13, 1942. Margaret Hester, Esther McCammon, Doris Miller, Jerry Mohler, Pat Pearson, Ruth Pearson, Maxine Snell, and Sally Wilson now proudly wear the triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon. We all enjoyed The Voice of Amer- ica, the pageant which has been brought to us from National Convention. Vari- ous members represented the Voices of the different war periods portrayed and songs of each period were sung. Following dinner a program was given by the initiates. November 24, we joined Sigma Alpha Iota, Sinfonia, and Phi Sigma Mu to participate in a Noel Fest at the North M. E. Church. Fiddlers, trumpet players — even vocalists — packed their instruments into their most festive carrying cases and trotted off to enjoy an evening in which everyone participated. When musicians get together — don ' t we have fun?! We certainly enjoyed our Christmas party and Musicale at the home of our president, Marian Laut. Gifts were sent to children at the Riley Hospital. March 2, Kappa proudly presented Catherine Bell Rutledge, pianist; Alvina Palmquist, contralto, accompanied by Louise Swan; and the Mu Phi Trio, Jean Orloff - violin, Marjorie Bcrnat - violincello, Imogene Pierson - piano, in a public program at the Odeon. At a formal guest musicale Bomar Cramer gave us a program of piano music. Anticipated with pleasure at the time of this writing are a Reception and Tea for Mothers and the Patroness Club at the Conservatory, the program to be given by our scholarship student, the May eighteenth Initiation and Patroness Installation, and the annual June Frolic. Add all these things to the regular musicales, dinner and business meetings, and campus activities which we enjoy, and you ' ll see why we were so anxious to buy those War Bonds to help assure others of enjoying American privileges.

Page 21 text:

AN INTERVIEW OF ' ' NOTE Expanding our point of view and musical experience, it is interesting to observe other symphony orchestras and their conductors besides our own. So we know that a face to face interview with the Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic will prove very interesting. Franco Autori was born Francesco Michelangelo Giuseppe Maria Autoriello, in Naples, November 29, 193 0. He got his earliest impressions of music from his mother, who used to sing songs that filled his heart and his eyes; also from his aunt, who used to practice many hours, and from whom he began his study of piano. At the age of six, he was taken to hear Aida. Deeply moved, mostly by the conductor, he decided then and there to become a conductor when he was grown. At fourteen Franco Autori began the study of violin and composition, having taught himself, at the age of ten, to read any orchestral or operatic score. Entering the Royal University of Naples at seventeen, he intended to take a degree in eco- nomics and commercial sciences. But music lured him on, and at that age he gained his first experience as a conductor, amazing experienced musicians and critics alike. Later he became assistant conductor to such directors as Franco Ghione, Mascagni, Zandonai, and other noted Italian conductors who later became famous in this country as well. In 192 8, after his marriage to an American girl, Autori decided to come to America. He spent the first winter working in New York and Philadelphia, (where, I believe, he became acquainted with our Dr. Sevitzky) , and within eight months after his arrival, received a contract as assistant conductor of the Chicago Civic and Ravinia Opera Companies. When in 193 2 both operas closed, he went to Dallas where he conducted two summer seasons of the Dallas Symphony, organized the Dallas String Symphonietta, a chorus of one-hundred fifty mixed voices, produced opera with entirely local casts, lectured and taught widely. Mr. Autori is a medium-sized man, dark, with thinning hair; warm, vital, cheer- ful Italian temperament; generous, enthusiastic, and outstandingly sincere. He never collects anything he can ' t use. He is a very skillful amateur pho- tographer, a fairly good chess player, and enjoys bicycling. He loves languages, and speaks Italian, French, German and English; a little Russian, Polish, and Spanish. He has studied Latin and Greek. Mr. Autori doesn ' t venture to make very arbitrary statements on modern music, since, he says, we are as yet too close to it to gain a great perspective; and it is not played often enough to make a rigid judgment of it. Mr. Autori doesn ' t believe that any revolutionary action will be taken to revise the present method of instru- m.entation and orchestration as it would cause a period of musical chaos during which time musicians would have to relearn the whole process of music. In 1939, Mr. Autori was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Buffalo Branch of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, an award given annually to the man under thirty-six who has done most for the city of Buffalo.

Page 23 text:

ALPHA SIGMA CHAPTER PHI MU ALPHA SINFONIA National Honorary Music Fraternity OFFICERS OF ALPHA SIGMA CHAPTER ' . ■ ' Supreme Councilman J. Russell Paxton President ....:.......... Louis B. Rutan Vice-President ' . William F. Moon Secretary Kelvin Masson Treasurer j. j, Albion Warden Alonzo Eidson Historian X aldo UtteW Alumni Secretary Harold E. Winslow Sinfonia was founded at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, October 6, 1898, by Ossian E. Mills. Its seventy-two chapters com- prise the largest men ' s musical fraternity in America. Alpha Sigma Chapter was installed at the Metropolitan School of Music, May 2 5, 1926. Alpha Sigma sends greetings to all Sinfonia Chapters. Our bonds of sympathetic understanding for your problems are great and full. We, too, are fa cing grave problems of organization and progress. For all of us the opportunity of service to the first object of our Fraternity is whether in camp, company, squad, or at home, promoting in the hearts of those young and old the ideals, the courage and the hope that is particularly the heritage of music itself. Our chapter activities have been particularly successful. The male students and faculty members of the Conservatory were feted with a reception and a program shortly after the opening of the school year in September. Was it well attended? You answer that. Our invitation included the word refreshments. This initial activity led to the pledging of six fine men: James Edington, Robert Barton, Mal- lory Bransford, Ralph Coverston, Ervin Reed, and Charles Hamilton. Our joy will be complete late in March when these pledges accept for all time the honor and privileges of a Sinfonian. Object and Purpose of the Fraternity: To advance the cause of music in America. To foster the mutual welfare and brotherhood of students in America. To develop the truest fraternal spirit among its members. To encourage loyalty to the Alma Mater. To give recognition for outstanding worth in musical activity. Once a Sinfonuui, always a Siufoiiian. Long Live Sinfonia!