Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
Aside from the construction of the $50,000 pipe organ, which, after the
Exposition, will be placed permanently in the Civic Auditorium, the two
most important musical items found on the schedule of Exposition
enterprises are the engagements of Camille Saint-Saens and the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. The former, who maintained that "Beethoven is the
greatest, the only real, artist, because he upheld the idea of universal
brotherhood," is perhaps better fitted than any living composer to write
special music for the Exposition. This he has done,--writing two
compositions in fact; and their presentation has been an outstanding
feature. "Hail, California," was dedicated to the Exposition. Scored for
an orchestra of eighty, a military band of sixty, a chorus of 300
voices, pipe organ and piano, its first presentation was an event. The
Saint-Saens Symphony in C minor (No. 3) Opus 78, composed many years
ago, has become a classic during the life-time of its creator. It was
one of the wonders of the Boston Symphony programmes played in Festival
Hall. Its yield of immediate pleasure and its reassurance for the works
of Saint-Saens to be heard later, grew from the fact that it was scored
for orchestra and pipe organ, and in this massive tonal web the genius
of the composer to write in magnificent size was overwhelmingly evident,
thus forecasting the splendors of "Hail, California."
The other work written by this visitor from Paris is in oratorio form
and titled, appropriately, "The Promised Land." A huge choir of 400
voices, directed by Wallace Sabin and named in honor of the visitor, the
"Saint-Saens Choir," rendered a good account of the ensemble sections of
the choral composition, while the Exposition orchestra of 80
instrumentalists and the Exposition organ added effectiveness to the
accompaniment. Sabin presided at the organ. In addition to these
appearances, the composer conducted three recitals during the latter
part of June, when all of the compositions offered were his work.
The visit of Dr. Karl Muck with his Boston Symphony Orchestra has become
a luminous memory. The trip is utterly new in the history of music
anywhere, nothing like it ever before having been attempted. It is said
that the transportation bills alone amounted to $15,000, and there were
no stop-overs en route for concert performances to help in defraying
this bulky first cost. It is proper to record here the financial success
of the venture. While the season of twelve concerts was yet young, more
than $40,000 had been taken in at the box office, and the estimated
expenses of $60,000 were liquidated, with a margin of profit. This was
enhanced by an extra concert, the thirteenth. Tickets for the season
were sold in Chicago, New York, Boston, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, St.
Louis, Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon, while San Francisco and
the bay communities in general sent their thousands to the glorious
recitals. The result will be seen in a stimulation of music in the West.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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