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Page 17 text:
“
CLASS OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN George W. Chadwick Director AS the twentieth anniversary of Mr. George W. Chadwick ' s directorship of the New England Conservatory approaches, evidences multiply of the affec- L tion and regard in which he is held by the management, faculty, and student body. November 13, 1914, was memorable by reason of the celebration of the director ' s sixtieth birthday, when, from the moment of his appearance at the school in the morning until he left in the evening, he encountered a continuous series of surprises: gifts and presentation speeches from the teachers and the manager ' s office, from the orchestra, the fraternities, sororities, and dormitories. Ten years previously the recognition of Mr. Chadwick ' s ripening powers of leadership and creative imagination had taken the form of a notable concert, given in Jordan Hall, at which an immensely enthusiastic audience heard for the first time his Sin- fonietta, and brilliant performances of his third symphony, Lochinvar, and other works. Perhaps the next occasion for special felicitation will come in 1917, when two decades will have elapsed since the Conservatory trustees decided to entrust the direction of the institution to Mr. Chadwick. One of the treasured recollections of the New England Conservatory Class of 1915 will always be that of Mr. Chadwick ' s influence, exerted on the school when he was at the very height of his powers as composer and educator. Many of the class took part in, others listened appreciatively to, the brilliant performance of the Prelude to Oedipus Tyrannus, in Jordan Hall, April 16, 1915. Between the dates of his conducting this work, at first in supplementary performances given in several American cities after the premiere at Sanders Theater, Cambridge, and now in this revival of thirty-four years later, has been comprehended an extent and quality of original and educational work that would appear almost incredible if it were related in detail. In 1881 Mr. Chadwick, who was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1854, was a young musician, recently returned from years of study in Germany under Rei- necke, Jadassohn, and Rheinberger. He had already become known as a composer through his Rip Van Winkle Overture, first played in Boston at a concert of the Harvard Musical Association in December, 1879. His success with the choruses and orchestra of Oedipus established his reputation as a conductor. It led to his being conductor of the old Boston Orchestral Club, of the annual festivals at Springfield of the Hampden County Festival Association, and later of the festivals at Worcester. Between the year when Professor Paine ' s music was first presented and 1897 Mr. Chadwick had a remarkably varied experience in getting music from others as well as in creating music of his own. In that year he took over the directorship of the New England Conservatory and began a work whose results are now apparent in the world ' s largest and best- equipped music-schocl. How heartily Mr. Chadwick enters into the work, tedious to many, of teaching and drilling young musicians is known to every one who has Page Eleven
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Page 18 text:
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NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ever spent even a year at the Conservatory. What is not always so clearly appre- ciated by the student is that the director of such an institution is face to face with many problems besides those of giving instruction and examining candidates for entrance or graduation. Fortunately, many of the difficulties which ordinarily assail a man in such a position have been left behind through their wise solution in the early years of Mr. Chadwick ' s directorship. He then reorganized the faculty and added a num- ber of capable teachers, most of whom are on the faculty in 1915, and are a source of strength to the school. The problem of making the Conservatory diploma re- spected throughout the world was settled by definitely stiffening the requirements for graduation, so that now it is widely understood everywhere that the possessor of a certificate of graduation from the New England Conservatory of Music has sound musical attainments. How students of the various instruments were to secure practical training in playing under actual concert conditions was very much of a problem in 1897. Mr. Chadwick eliminated it by building up the present strong orchestra with full wind and brass, whose performances reach a standard equal to that of many professional orchestras of wide celebrity. A similar difficulty concerning the training of singers was met by the formation of the Conservatory Choral Club. So one might go on enumerating the school ' s developments for which the director has been responsible in the past eighteen years. The list, if fairly complete, would be very impressive. It adds to the pride of all Conservatory people in their school and its director- ship that in the midst of engrossing educational duties Mr. Chadwick has still found time and creative enthusiasm for writing works that have kept him in the forefront of American composers. Before his election to the directorship his pub- lished works were many, including such important pieces as the Melpomene Overture, Euterpe, Thalia, Phoenix Expirans, and the Columbian Ode, sung at the Chicago Exposition. Of more recent years have been the Ecce Jam Noctis, written for the bicentennial of Yale University; the Sinfoni- etta, already mentioned; the symphonic poem Cleopatra, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1905; Judith, a lyric drama; the string quartet in D-Minor, and many others. A piece was written last summer which, but for the outbreak of the great European war, would have been presented in November, 1914, at Leipsig, Germany, under circumstances of great honor to the composer, by a choral organization of which he became a member while a student. How helpful Mr. Chadwick is to the student has been proved to members of 1915 in various ways. His informal talks before fraternity men and the members of the men ' s club have always been stimulating, and in personal conversation he has done much to stimulate a right idea of the relationship of the musician to the world in which he is destined to live and earn his living. Page Twelve
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