_his lecture-recital

—

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VOL. XXI, No. 4

 

  

oll

 

 

 

 

¥.

eN@\ BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1934

Copyright BRYN MAWR
COLLEGE NEWS, 1934

PRICE 10 CENTS

 

 

Marriner Discusses
Classical Spirit in
Haydn and. Mozart

Artistry & Craftsmanship. Show
Intellectual Features in °
Form and Technique _.

 

 

HARMONIC REPLACES
POLYPHONIC STYLE

 

“We are dealing with the Classical
spirit in form and technique. You
will recall that the Classical Spirit is
embodied in the impersonal, intellec-
tual, the abstract, and that its domi-
nant features are artistry and crafts-
manship,” said Mr. Guy Marriner in
Tuesday in the
Deanery, the second in a series on
piano music of the last three cen-
turies. Hadyn, Mozart, and the so-
nata form were the other subjects dis-
cussed and illustrated during the af-
ternoon.

Francois Couperin perfected the
suite form and with his two contem-
poraries, Rameau and Loeillet, domi-
nated the French School and its devel-
opment of an elegant and ornament-
ed harpischord style. Haydn and Mo-
zart broke away from the polyphonic
and. fugal style of Bach and Handel
and initiated the harmonic style.
Haydn, born in Austria in 1732, died
in Vienna in 1809, and during his long
life became a world-wide success. He
is called ““Papa” Haydn or the “Fath-
er of the Symphony” because he com-
posed among his prodigous output 125
symphonies.

He recognized the new liberalism in
music and believed the music af the
future would be far greater than that
of the past, and that Music’s possibili-
ties were unlimited. His music is gay
and spirited and contains Croatian
folksongs from his native Slavonic dis-
trict, introducing a new note of na-
tionalistic music later to be developed

Continued on Page Six

 

M. Fiems Demonstrates
Techniques of Fencing

 

(Especially contributed by
E. Smith, ’87)

“Fencing is not easy to learn or to
do well,” said M. Joseph Fiems, who
has coached this sport for three years
at Bryn Mawr, at the Shipley School,
and at the Sword Club in Philadel-
phia. This stafement was made
Thursday, November 1, in the Gym.
Before fencing in a way which seemed
to belie his words, M. Fiems explained
to the audience of undergraduates the
use of the foil, épée and sabre. He il-
lustrated his definition of the various
attacks and parries by giving extreme-
ly simple demonstrations with Miss
Joan Brill and Miss Lucy Douglas, of
the Sword Club.

These preliminary expositions were
most helpful to those, uninitiated into
the art of fencing. M. Fiems and Mr.
Robert Agnew, also of the Sword
Club, bouted with the épée and the
sabre. The latter is very different in
technique from épée, as it it consists
mostly in slashing.. The épée or duel-
ling sword bout is the most spectacular
to watch, as the match consists of
the best two out of three touches,
which may be made anywhere from
the head to the foot. Miss Brill, Miss
Douglas and Pauline Manship bouted
with foils, a weapon used by men and
women, and which is like épée in tech-
‘nique.

Here at Bryn’ Mawr, daniing has a
definite place. Last year, for the first
time, Bryn Mawr won the Philadel-

“phia Team Championship. Of that

. ) team, Marianne Gateson and Maria

4

Coxe have graduated, leaving Pauline
Manship, Margot Berolzheimer, Bet-
ty Barnard and Eleanor Smith from
last year’s squad. Miss Manship, who
on the second team as well as
Varsity last year, is sure of a po-

on the Varsity this year. Julia

a it and ‘Huldah Cheek seem the

of

most promising candidates for Varsity
new fencers. The chances of

the championship again this
- year do not seem very strong because

{jet the inexperience of ‘host of the

squad.

 

 

College Calendar

Wednesday, November 7.
Movie: Zasu Pitts and Will
Rogers in Mr. Skitch. Goodhart.
8.00 P. M.

Thursday, November 8. Dr.
Veltmann. Common Room. 5.00
Pr. i ‘

Conference with Mrs. Dean,
Deanery. 8.30 P. M.

Saturday, November 10. Var-
sity Hockey’ vs. Philadelphia
Cricket Club. 10.00 A.

Student one-act plays.
hart. 8.15 P. M.

Sunday, November 11. Violin
and Piano Sonata Recital. Dean-
ery. 5.00 P. M.

Sunday Evening Service con-
ducted by Dr. Suter. Music
Room. 7.30 P. M.

Monday, November 12. Sec-
ond team hockey game _ with,’
Blacks. 4.00 P. M.

Mrs. Vera Micheles Dean on
Europe: Peace or War. Good-
hart. 8.30 P. M.

Tuesday, November 13. Guy
Marriner. Beethoven the Ti-
tan; lecture on Tonal Art, the
Sonata, Phrases and Character-.
istics. Deanery. 5.00 P. M.

ood-

 

 

 

Dr. Veltmann Explains
Fallacies in Complex

 

Atoms Combine Only by Chance
But All Combinations May
Possibly Occur

 

CONFUSION IN POSSIBLE

 

The Atomists, when confronted
with complex material structures,
made the mistake of trying “to explain
the actual in terms of the possible.”
Dr. Veltmann, speaking in the Com-
mon Room on Thursday, November 1,
began his lecture by pointing out the

nature of their problem as well as the.
fallacy in their way of solving it.

The Atomistic world has no plan or
purpose. because the independent
atoms come together only by chance.
Therefore the ancient Materialists
had to find some explanation for such
phenomena as the apparently teleolog-
ical organization of living beings and
their ability to adapt themselves to
their environment. They met this
problem by stating that every possible
arrangement of atoms could take
place somewhere and at some time.
Chance, together with spatial and tem-
poral infinity, was capable of produc-
ing anything. The Atomists, when
they used this ingenious argument to
explain the occurrence of improbable
events in nature, did not realize that
they were limited by the fundamental
concepts of their system.

The universe, just because of the
two infinite elements of space and
time, does not include potentially every
possibility of existence. For instance,
imagine an infinite space occupied at
regular intervals by point particles,
and assume that these point particles
are moving in one direction at the
same rate of speed. Though space
and time are infinite, these particles
will always hold the same relation to
each other. The’ Atomistic world,
more complex than this but still lim-
ited in its material, cannot exhaust
the possibilities of creation by “suc-
cessive flurries of Atomistic dusts.”

The Atomists confused the concept
of an infinite series of possibilities
with the concept of absolute possibil-
ity. The difference between the two
can be illustrated by two number se-
quences: four, eight, twelve, and the-
prime numbers, one, three, five. Both
these series are infinite, but they have
no members in common. Neither se-
quence has unlimited possibility. Thus
even with infinite space and_ time,
there still remain limitations in the
Atomistie world which prevent the as-
sumption of an infinite possibility .of
existence.

The cosmology of the ancient Ma-
terialists is based on the principle of
Democritus that like always tends to
unite with like. This principle does

not imply any law of attraction simi-
lar to gravitation, but simply means
: Continued. on Page Five

 

One Act Plays’ ‘Gain

Praise of Audience

 

12 Pound Look ‘Well Played;

Pitch in Riders to the Sea
Tragic, Sustained

 

A. M. GRAVES APPLAUDED

 

No higher praise can possibly be
given to the producers™and players
that gave ‘Riders to the Sea and The
Twelve-Pound Look on November 1

than the attentiveness and applause}:

 

* Medical Aptitude Test

The Medical Aptitude. Test,
which is one of the normal re-
quirements for admission *to a
medical school, will.be given De-
cember 7, for anyone who plans
to enter medical school in the
fall of 1935.- Application should
be made to Miss Lanman at
once. A fee of one dollar will
be collected from those who ac-
tually take the test. Applica-
tion is not binding, and any one
who withdraws will not be oblig-
ed to pay this fee.

 

 

 

of the audience, unless we add the|~ —

fact that both plays went over despite
a collapse in the stage scenery, a sick
cat in the audience, and the apprehen-
sive frame of mind with which we
greet the rehashing of Messrs. Synge
and Barrie, both of whom we were
educated to regard as master minds
in Freshman English. Beforehand,
the question was widespread as_ to
whether masterpieces of drama should
be sacrificed to the furtherance of am-
ateur college dramatics. We bolstered
ourselves with college spirit and an
absorbing interest in the lesser forms
of the drhma;, however, and went. Our
attitude was unfortunate: thereby we
missed the proper retribution for a
hypocritical attitude. The first play,
The Twelve-Pound Look, was defi-
nitely amusing; the second, Riders to
the Sea, was so finished a perform-
ance that we were caught up the mood
of it to the point where we complete-
ly forgot ourselves, Goodhart, and The
Players’ Club, which sponsored the
two presentations.

Barrie’s The Twelve-Pound Look, al-
though well done, was not too convinc-
ing. In costume, setting, line, and sit-
uation it is almost too close to our
own mode of living’ to convince us of
reality if there is the slightest devia-
tion from reality of life as we know
it. When the tone of a play is mod-
ern, as it is in the case of Mr. Barrie’s
play, we demand an absolute repro-
duction of ourselves and of our sur-
roundings on the stage; and the finish-
ed excellence that must be found in
the presentation of such a play is
practically impossible for amateurs
to achieve in a limited time and with
limited resources for actual settings
and costumes. The setting and fhe
costumes in The Twelve-Pound Look
were very good, but they neither add-
ed to nor detracted from the develop-
ment of the tone in the presentation.
They were authentically and simply
modern. No more could have been
done to make them familiar and com-
monplace (as, indeed, they were meant
to be), but familiarity proved not so
much contemptible, as uninteresting.

Helen Fisher, “as Kate, played her
important role with the assurance that
the part demanded. Her poise and
her facility at inflecting her lines so
as to bring out at once her character
and the situation succeeded in bring-
ing to life the character of Kate, the
one role in the play which demands
and lends itself to interpretation at
all. The interpretation was not com-
pletely finished, however; her light,
deft touch in the scenes which lent
themselves to comedy was superb, but
her acting was not sure enough in
the serious and protracted conversa-
tion with Sir Harry Sims.

Sir Harry Sims, as portrayed by
Laura Musser, was — as he should
have beeri—a kind of idiot, full of
sound and fury signifying nothing.
“T’]] huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow
your house in” was his message as he
took his knightly exercise, striding
from one end of the stage to the
other. ,This excess movement Miss

Musser ‘succeeded in keeping up with-}-

out any outward sign either of fa-
tigue or of self-consciousness. She
played Sims as the typed character
that Barrie made him. The other play-
ers in The Twelve-Pound Look were
Continued on Page Six

 

Upperclass Tryout
The News wishes to announce
that there is a place.open to one

Any one wishing to” try out
_ should report to the News office
on Monday, November 12, at
5.45 P. M. :

Bs

 

 

 

Junior on the Editorial Board. |

Alumnae Association

Will Debate Finances

Council: Meets This Week-End
in Nation-Wide Assemblage
at Bryn Mawr

 

 

DIVERSIONS PLANNED

 

The Council of the Alumnae Asso-
ciation of Bryn Mawr College is
meeting at Bryn Mawr College on
must cover every page in detail. If
November 8th, 9th and 10th, when del-
egates from all over the United States
will ‘be present, to discuss with the
executive officers and _ councillors
questions pertaining to the finances
of the Alumnae Association and schol-
arships for the college. In addition
to the Alumnae delegates, President
Marion Edwards Park, Dean Helen
Taft Manning, Dean Eunice Morgan
Schenck of the Graduate School,
Mrs. F. Louis Slade of New York,
and Mrs Learned Hand of ‘New
York, Directors of the College, will
be present.

The Council will open on Thursday
at half past twelve with a luncheon
at the Deanery, Bryn Mawr College,
for official members of the Council as
guests of Mrs. Herbert Lincoln Clark,
of Haverford, Pa., president of the
Alumnae Association, to be followed
by a meeting at which Mrs. Clark will
welcome the members and ‘open the
business session of the Council. The
afternoon session will include discus-
sion of financial problems, led by Miss
Bertha S. Ehlers, of Upper Darby,
Pa., treasurer, and Miss Virginia At-
more, of Wayne, chairman of the
Finance Committee and of the Alum-
nae Fund, and a report of the special
committee on alumnae relations with
the College by Mrs. Robert M. Lewis,

Continued on Page Five

 

Mrs. Dean Appraises
Dictatorship Policies
in Russia and Italy

 

Individual Liberty Subordinated
to State Welfare. Standard ©
of Living Lowes

 

PROLETARIAT, PROPERTY |

CLASS RULE NEW.ORDER

 

The peoples of all but a few Euro-
pean countries appear to have “ac-
cepted dictatorship as the form of gov-
ernment best adapted to provide them
with political. peace, econ6mic security
and fresh spiritual energy,”. stated
Mrs. Vera Micheles Dean in her dis-
cussioh of Dictatorship on Trial, the
second of the lectures given under the
Anna Howard Shaw Foundation. The
principal argument advanced in favor
of dictatorship is that it safeguards
the State against the vacillations and
delays inherent in parliamentary rule,
and enables the government to deal
promptly and efficiently with pressing
economic problems. Technical prob-
lems which cannot be properly under-
stood by the electorate are better left
to the discretion of a strong, and pre-
sumably wise, executive. This is pos-
sible because, it is argued, individuals
and groups do not resent the assump-
tion of dictatorial powers by the gov-
ernment.

Democracy is attacked for its politi-
cal inability to cope ‘with modern prob-
lems and for its identification in pop-
ular opinion with capitalism.
ics declare that democracy has not
succeeded in performing the funda-
mental task of all countries today—
that of ensuring ecOnomic security for
all,- while preserving a reasonable
measure of liberty for each.

Last year it was generally felt that
under parliamentary. rule no major re-
forms of the existing ‘system could
take place, and that only a dictator-
ship, armed with final authority and
free from responsibility to a popular
assembly could cope with the critical
situation. American industrialists ar-
gued that Fascism, American radicals
that Communism, had discovered the
only remedy for social crises. Closer

acquaintance with both systems has —

brought some measure of disillusion-
ment, and unquestioning faith has
yielded to a growing belief that dic-
tatorship, as well as democracy, is on
trial.

Continued on Page Four

 

New Instructor, Building, Equipment, Funds
Desired for History of Art Department

 

As Bryn Mawr reaches the fiftieth
anniversary of its opening, we pause
to appreciate how much each depart-
ment has meant to us, and how much
it will mean to our successors in the
future. Among the first that we con-
sider is the department of History of
Art, which shares with the depart-
ment of Archaeology the record of
giving some of the best graduate work
in art in the country. The depart-
ment now needs a new instructor, a
new btiilding, and a great deal of new
equipment. One of the plans for the
fiftieth anniversary is to provide funds
for _a new building, or wing of the li-
brary, for the departments of History
of Art and Archaeology. The Art
department has grown far faster
than the space provided for it; last
winter; it had five members and two
offices, three members of the depart-
ment in one office. This year there are
two in each office, and for the latest
reomer the department has annexed
the housemaid’s closet. The new wing
of the library should be exclusively for
Art and Archaeology and should have
an exhibition room, large lecture
rooms and conference rooms. Like
the Fogg Museum at Harvard, it
‘should be equipped with adequate
space to keep the slides, and ar-
rangements for filing, for storing, and
for consulting the photographs which
are harmed by constant rummaging:

The students ought to have a work-
room in the building where they could
go to practice painting, modelling, and
engraving, for which they should have
i special instructor and receive cred-

 

Italian primitives,

 

its as for a laboratory course. There
they could learn the. technique of the
the seventeenth
century Dutch masters, and the Im-
pressionist school, as these were stud-
ied in the major course. They should
have a chance to learn ink-painting,
an Oriental technique, in which Dr.
Ernst Diez is much interested. Dr.
Helson would be able and willing to
give help to students working on
color effects in painting. Especially
important and valuable would be the
instruction given in architectural and
topographical sketching.

The new approach to the visible
arts: would involve buying many books
and photographs, through which the
work of art is considered from the
side of the maker. eet

Besides funds for a building, and
the salary of another instructor, the
department needs money for fellow-
ships and_scholarships,..grgduate and
undergraduate. Many people now are
advised that the study of. History of
Art. is valuable in assuring them a
job. These people must be seen
through college and through at least
a year of graduate work to get an
M.A. There is also a tremendous and
very evidefit need for scholarships for
foreign study.

The department of History of Art
has grown up from a very small be~
ginning. The study of Art and Archae-
ology began in Miss King’s undergrad-
uate days. under Professor Richard
Norton, the son of Ruskin’s ‘friend,
Charles Eliot Norton.

Continued on Page Four

——

Its crit- ~