Cincinnati Conservatory of Music - Pans Pipers Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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JOSEPH W. CLOKEY OSEPH W. Clokey, Miami Univei'sity 1912, and a J graduate in composition. Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 1915. has spent this yeafs leave of absence from Miami University, in California, occupying practi- cally his whole time in composition. His things are in great demand among such publishers as C. C. Birchard, Boston, H. W. Gray 06., New York and Clayton F. . Summy, Chicago, and have found a cordial hearing at the . following institutions and others of their type: 5 Northwestern University, Leland Stanford Univer- L sity, New York State Normal tHollis Dann, directori, '. University of North Carolina, University of Kansas, Brick . Presbyterian Church, New York, Trinity Cathedral, t Cleveland, Union Theological Seminary, New York, First ' Congregational Church, Chicago, College of the City of ,- New York, Organ-Orchestra Concerts, Orchestra Hall, f Chicago. - Among his compositions which have had an appreci- ative reception are: . Choral Works: Hymn Exultant tfor Easteri. I. The Vision. 0 S l . ,-. When the Christ Child Came. . M t- . r5315 : h o OSt '1 Part Songs twomenis voicesi, Loun gm e 0 es. A Snow uegend. xfgegl e-d Id 11 Night Song. 00 an y ' Operas: Songs: The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Dawn. In Grandmotheris Garden top- The Cathirdi erettai. Far Away Song. Part Songs tmixed voicesii Blue Are Her Eyes. Lincoln. Sea Breath. Seven and Eight Part a capella numbers for church use. Four Christmas Carols. The following criticisms from various well-known musical journals give some idea of Mr. Clokeyis standing in the musical world. The Vision-JtIt is one of the most interesting and inspiring publications of church music in recent years',. The most striking characteristics of the music are a certain vagueness of rhythm and harmony, the skillful use of light and shade, the ever-changing moods which find expression now in lyric passages of surpassing beauty, then in dramatic themes of most stirring charac- ter . It is a beautiful work, original and daring, packed with beauty from cover to cover with inspirational quali- ties as superb as its musicianship and technic . The Pied Piper-JtWe started to glance over it, and presto! an hour had gone and we found ourselves wishing we could see the work performed? tilt is full of delicious music. Mr. Clokey possesses both magnetism and skill . It is interesting to know that Tony Sarg is using as inci- dental music with his marionette performance of The Pied Piper, selections from Mr. Clokeyis Opera. Page 163

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HAROLD MORRIS AROLD MORRIS, B. A. University of Texas, distinguished H graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, is now resident in New York, where he and his wife, Cosby Dansby, also a Conservatory graduate. with their little daughter form one of the Conservatory centers of that city. The long list of Mr. Morris's achievements mark him as one of the most promising of the .vounger American composers. His Poem for Orchestra tafter Tagore's Gitanjali'ii has been play- ed by New York Philharmonic. Joseph Stransky, conductor, Cin- cinnati Symphonv Orchestra. Eugene Ysaye, conductor, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Walter Rothwe11.conduct0r. The following tributes from critics of the calibre of Mr. Hune- ker and Mr. Finck mean much to the musical wzorld The Poem is full of passionate strivings and is scored in the Warmly colored stvle dear to the younger men. Mr. Morris has .talent, has science .--James G. Huneker, New York Times. iiThe composer has shown much ingenuity and there is a mod- ernity Which is neither Debussyan nor Stravinskyan and encourag- es bright hopes for the future. He was repeatedly called out after the performance .eHenry T. Finck, New York Evening Post. Mr. Morris's Trio for piano. violin and cello has been played by Felix Salmond, English cellist, Albert Stoessel. violinist and the composer. It was one of the five American works chosen by a committee of distinguished New York musicians and critics for the Salzburg Festival in 1923. Of it Lawrence Gilman, critic of the New York Tribune, wrote: uThis IS music of exceptional strength and originality, sinewy in structure, distinguished in speech, strikingly independent and self-sprung, and with a curious astringency of fiavor that sets it- apart from any other American music that we can recall. It is a superb piece of writing, and we can think of no contemporary Who would not have been justified in patting himself on the back if he had written it . First piano sonata has been played by Oliver Denton, pianist in Aeolian Hall, New York, and by the composer. The following criticism is in the same congratulatory mood as those already given: There is charm, originality of conception and a curiously buoyant suggestion of courageous youth and poised maturity in the work . In 1920, Mr. Morris gave a Recital of his own compositions in Aeolian Hall, New York, the program consisting of two piano sonatas and sonata for violin and piano. His songs have been sung by Alma Beck and Lambert Murphy. Mr. Morris is one of the founders of the American Music Guild which gives concerts of American music. Page 162

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.1 W 5 F- Htv 1163'? :5: 6 ? 7;va ,J .hw; free 43..1 .1123- ELIZAB ETH COOK NE of the recent additions to the Conservatory Colony in New York is Elizabeth Cook, who for several years past has been teaching at . the Conservatory, at the same time doing some com- position Which brought her into prominence in State musical circles. At the 1924 meeting of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, Miss Cook was awarded $50 as a prize for the best composition for two pianos. Her beauti- ful chorus for women's voices, Sea Fairies, was used last year by the Girls' Glee Club of the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Tuthill directing, and also by the Girlsl Glee Club of De Pauw University, of which .Anna May Payne is the director. Since her arrival in New York, she has been en- gaged as accompanist at the Kitchell Studios, and has also been invited to become a member of the New York Reportoire Club, composed of profession- al musicians, Where several of her compositions will be sung this season. A number of new compositiolns of hers will soon issue from the press of C. C. Birchard, publisher, of Boston, Page 164