The Jewel City Part 13

Of the beautiful light that falls upon the Palace of Fine Arts (p. 137), I can do no better than to quote from Royal Cortissoz: "At night and illuminated, it might be a scene from Rome or from Egypt, a gigantic ruin of some masterpiece left by Emperor or Pharaoh. The lagoon is bordered by more of those heavenly hedges that I have described. There are trees and thickets to add to the bewilderment of the place, to make it veritably the silenzio verde of the poet. And with the ineffable tact which marks the lighting of the Fair, this serene spot is left almost, but not quite, to the dim loveliness of night. The glow that is given its full value elsewhere is here at its faintest. The pageant ends in a hush that is as much of the spirit as of the senses."

XIV.

Music at the Exposition

Early neglect of music by the Exposition management remedied by the appointment of George W. Stewart, of Boston, as manager--Engagements of Camille Saint-Saens and the Boston Symphony Orchestra the musical events of the summer--Original compositions by the French master--Sousa and his great band--Other notable bands--Lemare's organ concerts- Splendid choral performances by famous organizations--A half-million for music.

Music cannot be omitted from any scheme of mundane celebration. In an exposition of the character of this one, where all art has been given so high a place, this gift of the G.o.ds must a.s.sume an unusual importance.

It is important here, not only as a means of entertainment, but as a means of cultural development, and as an intellectual factor in the evolution of the race. This Exposition justifies itself by its storehouses of knowledge. Its reason for existence is, the permanent advancement of the people of the world in all that art, science, and industry, can bring to its palaces for pleasurable study.

With the agreement that a great pipe organ was to be installed in Festival Hall, and that orchestras and bands were to be engaged, the early speculative musical labors of the directorate ended. Casual indeed was the attention paid to music during all of the early part of the pre-Exposition period. Material interests--and there were millions of them--cried for consideration, while the still, small voice of music was drowned in the clangor of construction. Just as music is the last of the arts to receive recognition at our universities, so it was neglected here until so much time had elapsed that only the most fortunate of accidents could give song and symphony their proper places among the wonders that were ultimately to find a home in the Jewel City.

Fortunately, accident for once proved kind; vigorous direction emerged fortuitously from apathy.

In the early building period, President C. C. Moore turned aside from his other cares long enough to appoint J. B. Levison Chief of the Music Department. A better choice could hardly have been made. For more than two decades Mr. Levison, an able amateur in music, and a business man of high standing, had been identified with all of San Francisco's larger efforts in its musical life. But Mr. Levison's grasp of the importance of such a post was more comprehensive than President Moore's, for he refused the position. Fortunately, however, he had his attention directed to George W. Stewart, of Boston, a former artist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a man technically equipped, who had made a great success of the music at the St. Louis Exposition. Stewart was engaged, and to him is due the credit for the remarkable record music has already made at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

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 cla.s.sic 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 rea.s.surance 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 ma.s.sive 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 t.i.tled, 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.

But the engagements of Saint-Saens and Dr. Muck with his orchestra do not sum up the important activities of the Exposition's music. There are other features which challenge even these in popular estimation.

John Philip Sousa has spent a long season at the Exposition. A blunder was somewhere made in dating the arrival of the March King and his splendid instrumentalists, who came while yet the Boston Symphonists were playing in Festival Hall. As a result the finest of bands was placed in compet.i.tion with the finest of orchestras. But nothing disastrous happened. Those who desired, to the number of fifteen thousand, heard Sousa at his opening concert in the Court of the Universe; those who desired heard Dr. Muck's instrumentalists, to the seating capacity of Festival Hall.

Featured concerts have been and are being given by ma.s.sed bands composed of Sousa's, Ca.s.sasa's, Conway's and other military or concert organizations.

Briefly, and regardless of the importance of each item, here are some of the attractions which make this Exposition vocal and harmonious: Edwin Henry Lemare, of London, by general critical agreement declared the greatest living organist, is expected here early in September, when he will begin his series of one hundred organ recitals, to continue till the Exposition closes in December. A unique episode of the Exposition music must not be overlooked in the recital by Madame Schumann-Heink, whose graciousness found another expression in her concert given exclusively and gratuitously to the children. More than three thousand of the little folk were in Festival Hall when the grandest of singers sang for them alone. The visit already accomplished of Gabriel Pares and his famous Republican Guard band of Paris; the engagement already begun of the Ogden Tabernacle Choir of 300 voices; the Eisteddfod compet.i.tive concerts; the long stay of the Philippine Constabulary band under the leaders.h.i.+p of Captain W. H. Loving; Emil Mollenhauer's big Boston band; the concerts of the United Swedish Singers; the Apollo Music Club's premised visit from Chicago--the organization is coming intact with all of its 250 vocalists and its distinguished composer-conductor, Harrison M. Wild; La Loie Fuller's spectacles, and the engagement of forty noted organists to appear in Festival Hall in addition to Lemare and Clarence Eddy, are a few of the accomplished or promised attractions. To this list must be added the daily concerts given gratis at different periods by various bands other than those named--the official Exposition band of 45 players under the seasoned direction of Charles H. Ca.s.sasa; Thaviu's splendid band of 50; Conway's military and concert band of 50, and others yet to be had in the world of music will be spread for their delecta-concerts are booked. As proof of the worth of these, let the achievements of the recent past speak. We have heard the Alameda County 1915 Chorus of 250 voices under Alexander Stewart in a majestic performance of Handel's "Messiah;" the Exposition Chorus under Wallace Sabin in a repet.i.tion of the music sung as part of the opening day's celebration--"The Heavens are Telling," from Haydn's "Creation," and the official hymn--"A n.o.ble Work"--by Mrs. H. H. A. Beach; the Berkeley Oratorio Society under the inspiring direction of Paul Steindorff in two splendid concerts, the first given to Rossini's "Stabat Mater" and the second to Brahms' "German Requiem;" and the Pacific Choral Society's performance of Haydn's "Creation" under the musicianly leaders.h.i.+p of Warren B. Allen. More music may confidently be looked for from these rich sources.

The Exposition authorities declare that half a million dollars will have been expended on music before the end of the life of the great enterprise. Thus visitors to the Exposition may come at any period of the Jewel City's existence, knowing that the best to be had in the world of music will be spread for their delectation, and that they will be afforded a comprehensive view of the art of tone as it exists today. In this respect the Exposition's musical "exhibit" is similar in its scope to the revealments in all its other departments; for the Exposition is avowedly devoted to contemporaneous rather than historic achievements.

Nothing that extends contemplation over a wider period than the last five years is admitted for compet.i.tive exhibition. The modern composer, no less than the modern inventor, is having his day at the Exposition.

This is as it should be. We are hearing, have heard, or will hear, the last utterances of present-day musical creators. Indeed, in the case of one--Saint-Saens--we heard, as I have recounted, two ma.s.sive compositions written expressly for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and John Philip Sousa has bent his most martial mood to the composition of an inspiring march which is called "Panama." But music also enjoys a privilege not accorded equally to any other department of Exposition display. The works of the past, as well as the present, are given. A history of music at the Exposition properly written--as one surely should be--would be an epitome of the evolution of the art from Cherubini, Haydn and Bach to Richard Strauss, Saint-Saens and Debussy.

It would involve in its telling the stories of music in Italy, Germany, Austria, England, France, Russia, Scandinavia, yes, and America, too! It would include an account of the genealogy of the modern orchestra as exemplified in the Boston Symphony or the Official Symphony, and of military bands up to the perfected concert organizations headed by a Sousa or a Gabriel Pares. It would embrace with like inclusiveness the history of the pipe organ through its stages of evolution from the ponderous instruments with men straddling unwieldy bellows to the marvel installed in Festival Hall, and it would embrace the history of the art of organ music up to such exemplars as our own Clarence Eddy, John &.

McClellan, Edwin Lemare, and Camille Saint-Saens. What a chapter would be set aside for the record of Exposition choral music! Already there has gone abroad from the Festival Hall an impetus towards better chorus music that will, I feel sure, firmly establish this somewhat neglected department of musical art in the far West.

XV.

Inside the Exhibit Palaces

All compet.i.tive exhibits strictly contemporaneous, showing the arts of to-day--Revolution worked by the motion-picture theater in exhibition methods--The lessons of Machinery Palace--Coal and steam fast yielding to liquid fuels and waterpower and electricity--Life-saving devices, accident prevention and employees' welfare made prominent in Palaces of Machinery and Mines--A contrast in locomotives--Building a motor car every ten minutes--Co-operative exhibits in Food-Products Palace--Many great displays by the United States Government--Educational exhibits not duplicated, each state or city showing its specialty.

In its industrial displays, as well as its art, the Exposition keeps steadily in view the fact that it commemorates a contemporary event; it is contemporaneous, not historical. Hence it was decreed from the first that the exhibits must be the products of the last decade, a rule strictly observed save in rare cases where older forms have been admitted for comparison. The result is two-fold. The exhibits are condensed to the essential, giving room for a greater number of exhibitors; and the progress of the world is shown as of today.

Eleven palaces house the exhibits, exclusive of live stock. Officially, the things shown in the state and foreign buildings are not "exhibits,"

but "displays," and are not eligible for award. In general, the names of the palaces indicate the cla.s.ses of exhibits to be found in them. No sharp line, however, can be drawn between the Palaces of Manufactures and Varied Industries, or between Agriculture and Food Products. In other cases there is some overlapping of cla.s.ses. One section of the Liberal Arts exhibit is in the Palace of Machinery.

A striking feature of almost all the palaces, and one that differentiates this Exposition from its great predecessors of a decade or more ago, is the common use of the moving-picture machine as the fastest and most vivid method of displaying human activities and scenery. Everywhere it is showing industrial processes. Former expositions, for want of this device, have been mainly exhibitions of products. These have hitherto been shown in such bulk as to fill vast floor s.p.a.ces and become a weariness to the flesh, while it was impossible, from the nature of things, to exhibit the great primary industries of field, forest, sea and mine in actual operation. The motion-picture machine has not only lessened the areas of products shown, thus making this Exposition more compact than former ones; but it has increased the effectiveness of exhibition methods by carrying the spectator, figuratively, into the midst of operations, and showing him men at work in all the important processes of agriculture, in the logging camps, in mines and fisheries, as well as in the mills and factories where the raw materials of these basic industries are worked into finished products. Its value for showing scenery, too, is fully utilized here. Many of the states and foreign countries employ it. Even faraway Siam uses it to instruct the Occident concerning her resources and people. Counting those in the state and foreign buildings, seventy-seven free moving-picture halls are to be found within the Exposition. Their efficiency is indicated by the crowds that throng them daily.

The Palace of Machinery holds three lessons for the observer. It shows not only the state of man's invention at the present moment, the increasing displacement of coal by hydroelectric plants and liquid fuels, but what is perhaps more significant, the changing direction of invention toward devices for human betterment. The Diesel oil engine and mult.i.tudes of electrical machines stand for the latest word in mechanical invention. The Diesel again, with a host of other internal combustion engines, the electric motors and waterpower plants, and the absence of steam machines, bear witness to the downfall of steam. But the great s.p.a.ce given to safety devices, to labor-saving machines, to road-making machinery, and to mechanical devices for increasing the comfort of country life, are evidence of the part machinery is coming to play in the task of making life more livable. As an exhibition of modern mechanical invention, Machinery Hall is unique, as all this Exposition is unique. There is almost nothing in it that is not the product of the last ten years; it actually represents construction of the last two years. Indeed, the wholly contemporary nature of the exhibits leaves the visitor without visible means of comparison.

As at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, a prime mover is the central figure in the building. There it was the immense Corliss steam engine.

Here it is a Diesel, started by President Wilson by wireless on the opening day, and generating all the direct current used in the palace.

Another commanding exhibit is a 20,000 horsepower hydro-electric generator, significant of the modern use of water-power. The United States Government is the largest exhibitor in the building, with numerous fine models of wars.h.i.+ps, docks, dams and submarine mines; torpedoes, artillery, armorplate and sh.e.l.ls, army equipment, ammunition-making machinery in operation, light-houses and aids to navigation, and a splendid set of models ill.u.s.trating road-making methods. Crowded out of its proper place in the Palace of Liberal Arts, the exhibit of the printing trades occupies a section here, including a huge color press turning out ill.u.s.trated Sunday supplements.

The Palace of Mines and Metallurgy offers ample evidence of the great figure which steel now makes in the world, and of the vast extent of the petroleum industry. Here, too, as in Machinery Hall, accident prevention is emphasized. From this point of view insurance exhibits are not out of place here. The United States Steel Corporation, with its subsidiary companies, shows in this palace the largest single exhibit seen in the Exposition, save those of the United States Government. Noteworthy are its excellent models of iron and coal-mining plants, c.o.ke ovens.

furnaces, rolling mills, docks, s.h.i.+ps, and barges, and an extensive section devoted to the welfare of employees, with model playgrounds.

Many states and nations, and many world-famous mining companies are represented by exhibits of ores and metals, of mine models, and mining and metallurgical processes in operation. California shows a gold dredger and a hydraulic mine in operation. The great copper mines of California, Montana, Utah, and j.a.pan, have installed significant exhibits. The United States Government operates in this palace a model mint, a model post office, and features a daily "mine explosion," with a demonstration of rescue work.

The Palace of Transportation places its emphasis on automobiles and roads, electric locomotives and cars, and the mammoth types of modern steam locomotives. All of these exhibits represent construction of the last year, with one exception. The first Central Pacific locomotive stands beside a Mallet Articulated engine,--an enormous contrast. One third of the floor s.p.a.ce is filled with steam and electric locomotives and modern cars. Some are sectioned, and operated by electric motors, vividly ill.u.s.trating the latest mechanical devices. Another third of the palace is devoted to motor cars. The Ford Motor Car Company maintains a factory exhibit in which a continuous stream of Fords is a.s.sembled and driven away, one every ten minutes.

Plans for a great exhibit of aeroplanes were destroyed by the war. The Exposition, however, maintains a constant exhibit of the spectacular side of aeronautics in remarkable flights by famous aviators. After Lincoln Beachey was killed in one of these performances, his place was taken by Arthur Smith, who was instantly crowned as a far more dazzling birdman. Two aeroplanes are the only representation in the palace.

Steams.h.i.+p companies have erected here sections of their vessels.

Railroads make interesting exhibits of scenery along their routes, of safety devices and of railroad accessories. The Canadian Pacific, Grand Trunk Pacific, Great Northern, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe systems maintain buildings of their own, exhibiting the scenery, agriculture and other resources of the country through which they pa.s.s.

The Palace of Varied Industries ill.u.s.trates the enormous complexity of modern material needs. Packed with severely selected manufactures, it is made especially interesting by the many processes shown in operation.

Cotton and woolen mills, linen looms, knitting machines, machines for weaving fire hose, a shoe-making factory, a broom factory, and many others, are particularly attractive because they are engaged in making familiar articles. The machines in use demonstrate the refinements of present-day manufacturing processes. The factories of many nations are represented in this palace. Germany makes here her largest exhibit, notably of cutlery and pottery.

The Palace of Manufactures differs from the Palace of Varied Industries as a bolt of silk differs from a bale of leather. Yet this general distinction between the finer and the coa.r.s.er cla.s.ses of factory products is not rigidly adhered to. The Palace of Manufactures is distinguished by a remarkable exhibit of fine wares by the j.a.panese, and another of commercial art from Italy. Fortunately this j.a.panese display is of goods in the ancient style, infinitely more interesting, though less significant, than the extensive exhibits in other palaces of j.a.panese wares manufactured in compet.i.tion with Western nations. Most beautiful are the ceramics, the lacquered ware, and the silks. Great Britain is an extensive exhibitor of cutlery, pottery, and textiles.

Manufacturing processes are shown in operation in this palace, though less than in the Palace of Varied Industries.

The Palace of Liberal Arts found its six acres of floor s.p.a.ce insufficient. The exhibits, forming a remarkable demonstration of the breadth of applied science, embrace electrical means of communication, including wireless telegraphy and telephony, musical instruments, chemistry, photography, instruments of precision and of surgery, theatrical appliances, engineering, architecture, map-making, typography, printing, book-binding, paper manufacture, scientific apparatus, typewriters, coins and medals, and innumerable other articles. A great s.p.a.ce is occupied by talking machines "demonstrated"

in musical theatres, and by cameras. The American Telegraph and Telephone Company maintains transcontinental telephone connection between its theatre and New York, and gives daily demonstrations. The United States Government has installed a great variety of displays. Most striking, perhaps, is the section from the National Museum, where the most modern methods of exhibition are exemplified in cases containing human groups that are almost real life. The great pipe organ in Festival Hall is cla.s.sed as one of the exhibits of this palace. Germany, j.a.pan, China, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Cuba, and New Zealand are heavy exhibitors here. Of special interest is the German exhibit of radium and its allied metals.

The Palace of Education and Social Economy contains the special educational exhibits of this Exposition, which itself, as a whole, is a world-university. Its striking features are the great number of official exhibits by states, cities and foreign nations, and the emphasis laid on industrial and vocational education, public health, playgrounds, and the training of abnormal children. An educational exhibit is one of the most difficult to make vivid and interesting to the general public. This palace has succeeded by avoiding duplication. To each state or city was a.s.signed a special problem, as far as possible the one to which it had contributed a noteworthy solution. Thus, Ma.s.sachusetts shows her vocational methods, while Oregon specializes on rural schools as neighborhood centers. Among the cities, St. Louis devotes most of its s.p.a.ce to the educational museum, while Philadelphia emphasizes central high schools. The United States Government supplies a branch of its Children's Bureau, with daily conferences for parents. Among the many instructors who have been engaged to conduct cla.s.ses in the palace is Dr. Maria Montessori, who is to give a course of lessons based on her famous system. The Philippine exhibit shows that Americans have developed in the Islands a system of practical education which American teachers should study.

The Palace of Agriculture is an instructive presentation of modern farm methods, as well as of raw products of the soil. It shows admirably the great advance in agriculture in the United States, giving due s.p.a.ce to the work and influence of the state agricultural colleges. Particularly impressive is the array of farm machinery and the wide application to it of the gasoline motor. After seeing it, one wonders what place is left on the farm for the horse. The fundamental nature of agriculture has brought more states and foreign countries into this palace than are represented in any other. A significant representation is that of the Philippines, an exhibition of enormous natural resources. Its display of fine hardwoods is the finest ever made by any country. Similar exhibits of Argentina and New Zealand are also excellent. Forestry takes a large place in this palace, the United States Government making a big forestry exhibit in addition to the great general display of the Department of Agriculture.

The Palace of Food Products is a temple of the tin can and the food package. It is made one of the most interesting of all the Exposition buildings by its numerous processes in operation. A large part of it is really a factory, turning out before the visitor's eyes the different familiar edibles of the magazine advertis.e.m.e.nts. A mint of money must have been spent by these exhibitors. A flour company, for example, has installed a complete mill in which flour is manufactured, and then made into many kinds of cakes and pastries by a row of cooks of various nations. A bakery in connection with this mill turns out 400 loaves at a baking. As in every exposition, visitors crowd the booths where edible samples are distributed. After viewing many such scenes, a local humorist dubbed this building "the Palace of Nibbling Arts."

The new idea of co-operation among manufacturers appears in a number of collective exhibits. California wine producers have united in a splendid display, far more impressive than could be made by an individual. The Pacific Coast fisheries have joined in an elaborate exhibit of every sort of tinned fish. The United States Bureau of Fisheries maintains an extensive aquarium of fresh and salt-water fishes. The State of Was.h.i.+ngton has another, with a salmon hatchery in operation. Modern production of pure food is greatly emphasized. In a building of its own, a Pacific Coast condensed milk concern operates a good-sized factory, using the milk of its herd of pure-bred Holsteins, kept in the Live-Stock section.

The Palace of Horticulture, with its gardens, has been planned with a three-fold purpose, to appeal with equal interest to the tourist, the student, and the business man. Its exhibits by states and foreign nations picture the gardens and orchards of the world. Its factory installations exhibit actual processes of preparing and preserving fruit and vegetable products. Under the great dome are the Cuban and Hawaiian collections of tropical plants and flowers, already described in the chapter on the South Gardens. In the flanking rooms are displays of orchids and aquatic plants. In the main hall Luther Burbank shows his creations. An exhibit of fresh fruits in season is maintained. The gardens outside show plants and shrubs from many states and countries, including the great exhibit of the Netherlands Board of Horticulture.