Leaving aside everything that Walter Damrosch has done for our country and the French musicians, generous acts for which our gratitude has often been expressed, I wish mainly to pay my tribute to the extremely expressive interpretation at the concerts he has given lately at the Opera. Whether it is classical, romantic, or modern music, Damrosch first of all endeavors to set off and illustrate what we call the “melos,” the element of expression, the voice that must rise above all the other voices of the orchestra. He knows how to distribute the agogic action, the dynamic power, and he is not afraid—even in Beethoven’s works and in spite of the surprise this caused to our public—to accelerate or slacken the movement when the necessities of expression demand it. The French are a courteous people, and at the end of the concert there was an even greater crowd of musicians and friends behind the scenes to express their pleasure at our success. The programmes of the other two concerts were as follows: MAY 8 1. Overture, “Le Roi d’Ys”................................... Lalo 2. Symphony, “From the New World”............................ Dvořák 3. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in B Minor.............. Saint-Saëns MR. SPALDING 4. _a._ “Pélléas et Mélisande” (Fileuse)..................... Fauré _b._ Ma Mère L’Oye (Les Pagodes).......................... Ravel 5. Prelude to “Die Meistersinger”............................ Wagner MAY 9 1. Symphony in C (Jupiter)................................... Mozart 2. Poems (d’après Verlaine).................................. Loeffler 3. Symphony in D Minor....................................... Franck 4. Negro Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra.................... Powell JOHN POWELL The two young American artists, Albert Spalding and John Powell, made a splendid impression, and of the orchestral works the Prelude to the “Meistersingers” of Wagner and the Mozart and Franck Symphonies received special acclaim.