Philadelphia Conservatory of Music - Variations Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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?i7y0l'H0il'J lgcnlgce Some Americans do noi realize how wonderfully prolecied 'their lives have been. Thal' is why l should like lo fell you a li+l'le aboul lhe worsl years of my life. The nighl before my lwenly-iirsl birfhday in Augusi I944, l'he Communisrs oi Slovakia began a revolurion, aboul which we had no warning. As ihe Russians were ralher near, lfhey senl' parachulisls 'ro aid 'rhe Slovakian Communisis. When l say Slovakian, l mean 'those un- forrunare people who lived in rhe dispured Ausrro-Hungarian ferrilory. Their land had been raken of one rime by 'rhe Czechs and fhen freed by Hifler. He gave ihem fheir firsi' self-governed Republic offer many years of enslevemenl' by ofher naiions. Af firsl' lhey did noi' realize lhal their self-governed Republic had lo dance fo Mister l'lil'ler's flufe. When ihey did realize ir, fhey Turned to Communism, for Communism did seem ro be the -freedom fhey soughi, and lhe Russians surely did fheir share to make il' appear so. The firsf inkling we had of fhe revolulion was The culling of our telephone line, fhereby making if impossible fo gel' help. Then fhe shoolfing sfarfed, and if lasfed all nighf. Af The break of dawn, we gol' the carriage our and managed fo gel' our besf sfallions lo pull ii, for we had children wilh us and if was irnporianf io gei +o 'fhe nexf Town uickly. q The revolufianisrs fried lo sfop us. Armed wifh pifchforks and oiher agriculfural implemenls, rhey blocked The road, and in order To save our lives we had io run over fhern. Arriving of fhe nexl' fown, we wen? fo rhe railroad sfafion fo ge? whafever 'irain was available. We soon learned 'There would be no more Trains. g g Affer fhree days of woifing, we found fwo men who could operafe a irain, and we paid Them io lake us io Prague. This frip normally 'fook rwo hours, but if look us iwo days. Arriving af Prague, we crossed fhe border and wenf fo Vienna. . A+ Vienna more suffering awailed us. The air raids began and we spem' mosl of our fime in cellars. When Vienna was declared a forlress, women and children were asked 'ro leave. I had had enough of being on fhe roads so l sfayed. Laier l learned rhai many of fhose who lei? had been killed. One nighf while we were hiding in a cellar, we heard bricks falling close by, machinegun fire, and slrange voices. Bullels began 'ro sirike comrmueo ON PAGE 27 ' 22

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i AN 'OPERA CLASS REHEARSAL FOR' THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO VA I :Q . ,.lX4l9l9l'Q6lCA,7, I, 1 4 2 u -' A quesfion was puf 'ro mesrecenrly onhow l had approached' my sfudenfs' on such 'aflarge 'and complicafed work as Mozar+'s Marriage lofi Figaro , rand- how I look fhem fo l'he proof1of ihe fire , as we say in lhe' fheaier, wiihoui burning fhem. lf is noi an easy quesrion fo'a'nswe'r.' lcon only say 'rhai' I began by explaini'ng'1'o fhem every characfer, dramafical- ly, hisforically and pfsychologicallyg Then by following a successful experi- menf offfhe Salzburg Opera, we usedfhe spoken recifafive, and began wifh speaking The lines according fo +he 'rype of characrer porfrdyed. From +ha+ sfep we followed 'wiih +he acfing, and fhen combined i+ wifh lhe music. l do no'r believe in 'rhe chalk mark melhod-2-fhaf is, marking fhe spols on fhe srage where fhe sfudenf musf be ar given momenis. To my mind, a sludenl' musf unders+and when he musl sfand slill and when he musl move-and why! Only in 'rhal way can a sfudenl' become a professional on fhe slage, A young professimral if you wish, bufnol' a liille studerzt. ENZO SERAFINI LUPO 21

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jar 6 MCOPCI O, wad God fhe giffie gie us To see ourselves as ifhers see us. Roberi Burns The greaf Scofch bard lived many years before fhe advent of ihe recording machine, ifs offspring ihe phonograph record, and its cousins the fape and wire recorders. Had Burns lived only fiffy years ago, he mighi' have replaced fhe see wifh hear , g The gifi has been in our hands now for quife some years and every sfudeni, young ar+is+ and maiure ar+is+ can beneliif enormously from fhe help +ha+ fhese machines give. li mirrors disiincily fhe qualiiy of one's phrasing and dynamic conirol, and shows up errors of iechnic which pass unnoficed during ihe preoccupaiion of execuiion. As for inionaiion, pianisis excepfed, well-:nuff said. And besi oi all, if wire or iape machines are used fhe record can always be wiped clean and used over again. -And, iusl' a helpful noie aboul' 'rhe playbaclc family. They can be boughl' as uni'rs which play baclc fhrough a phonograph or radio, reducing ihe cosi' and 'raining less room. The phonograph foo, has been a boon +o ihe siudenf. The collec- 'lion of recordings in exisience 'roday covers praciically ihe eniire range oil musical liieraiure. lmiialion is noi' necessary, nor always desirable, bui inspiraiion and new ideas can be gained by lislening io Jrhem. Oi course, ihe Phonograph has also produced a dreary ihing: The young Conducior. Quiie a crop of ihis specie has been ioisied upon us by managers and public relaiions men who are ofherwise fairly sane. Bul where would ihe budding genii of +he baion, repleie wi+h curls and velvel brifches be, were ii noi ior Vicior, Columbia, Decca ei al? Why back home where They should be, praciicing scales, Czerny, Kreufzer, or Grue+zmacher. WILLEM EZERMAN P. S. l own no sroclr in recordihg companies. 23