History

BMC: The First Thirty Years

by Thomas W. Joiner

Chapter 4

Mrs. Henry Alvah Strong, ardent friend of American youth, Trustee of the Brevard Music Foundation, enthusiastic advocate of the Christian principle of sharing, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." In grateful appreciation of her unfailing encouragement and generous benefactions to Transylvania, the festival program of 1950 is affectionately dedicated to her memory.

At the winter board meeting of 1950, held in Charlotte at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton Kay, the Trustees announced plans for the amortization of the Foundation's remaining debt. Since its organization, the Foundation succeeded in reducing the original debt from $65,000 to $27,500 figure. Mrs. Henry Carrier announced a substantial gift of ten thousand dollars to build a faculty home at the camp. This contribution was made by Mrs. W. M. Mitchell, of Indianapolis, Indiana, in memory of her late son and in memory of the late Donald Pfohl, brother of James Christian Pfohl, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Pfohl of Winston-Salem. Mitchell, impressed by the coincidence that her son John and Donald Pfohl had the same birthday, dated her check for the construction of the John-Don House on that date. In addition to the gift of ten thousand dollars, Mitchell donated a valuable violin, the property of her son, who was a musician before he was killed in the service. The violin, originally purchased from W. E. Hill and Sons of London, was made by C. F. Landolfi of Milan in 1772.

The music camp's reputation began to spread even further during the 1950 season due to the "Voice of America" radio programs and the support and encouragement of the Columbia Broadcasting System. A camp concert, featuring works by three American composers, was beamed by short wave radio over the "Voice of America" series to countries around the world. Dr. Charles Vardell, Jr.'s cantata The Inimitable Lovers, the Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra by Vittorio Giannini, and Short Overture by Don Gillis were included on the camp concert. Both Vardell and Giannini were in residence to aid in the preparation and rehearsals of their works.

James Fassett, supervisor of the music division of the Columbia Broadcasting System, visited the Transylvania Music Camp with the idea of presenting the camp in concert on a Sunday afternoon broadcast over CBS. Fassett's hour-and-a-half program featured the best-known orchestras in the country and intermission interviews with world renowned artists. Occasionally, Fassett varied his program by picking up something entirely off the beaten path. That is what he was doing at the Transylvania Music Camp. He explained:

I came to the Transylvania Music Camp because it is one of the best music camps in the country, hidden way down here in the mountains, and yet engaged in the business of training talented students from nineteen states. I went to Brevard, taking with me a tape recorder on which I wanted to record the material I would use later on my program. When I got to the camp, I started walking around, carrying the recorder and microphone with me. In a patch of woods I found an eleven-year-old boy playing a flute. By a brook I found another student with a bassoon, in a cabin there was a tuba player. I approached and listened, sometimes I talked briefly with them, and then continued my search. A little later I slipped up on the auditorium where the student orchestra was rehearsing. They were doing a difficult piece by Liszt, and it was'their second rehearsal. It was amazing. In a space of minutes serious work was dropped and the youngsters were cavorting in the lake for the swim period. It was hard to believe it was the same group
- from the Asheville Citizen, June 29, 1950

Fassett was impressed by the hardworking, serious-minded approach of all the students to their music. The music was the thing of greatest importance and no thought was given to show or glamour. A large part of the world heard, on August 13 at 3:00 P.M., a convincing story of the work going on at the Transylvania Music Camp.

Fassett returned to New York on June 29. He immediately began to help organize the appearance of dramatic soprano Eileen Farrell and guest conductor Thor Johnson for a Brevard concert to open an endowment drive for scholarship funds and operational expenses. Both artists donated their services to this "Faith in American Youth" campaign despite heavy obligations in New York and Cincinnati. Johnson postponed his trip to Europe in order to fulfill his benevolent engagement at Brevard. Music lovers were asked to purchase ten-dollar shares in an effort to raise an initial five thousand dollars for operational expenses. The camp needed twenty-five thousand dollars to fulfill its obligations and provide continued support for deserving students. The staff refused to raise the tuition of $275, even though the actual cost per student was $350. The camp annually operated in the red. Over the winter a complete underground sewage system was installed at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. Three thousand dollars was spent on the kitchen and dining hall to meet government health regulations.

Frances Griffen detailed the events of the fundraising week in the Winston-Salem Twin-City Sentinel of July 17, 1950:

Mr. Johnson arrived at Brevard on Monday and took over rehearsals of the orchestra, composed of the best students at the camp and faculty members. In a week's time, he managed to work up a program that would have been a credit to any professional organization.

Friday came and rains, which had plagued the camp for most of the week, continued. The boys and girls tramped down the hill to the little rough-hewn shed that is the concert hall. All morning long they rehearsed. The little blond harpist wore red rubber boots. The red-haired bassoonist was in bluejeans. Some were barefoot. The rains kept coming, and Mr. Pfohl, Mrs. Carrier, and the other hardworking people of Brevard were a little concerned. They had planned a dinner for board members and other distinguished guests, and they were visualizing empty places.

By 7:00 P.M. every place in the dining hall was filled. There were board members from Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and Highlands. Kermit Hunter, author of Unto These Hills, was eating the fried chicken served up by the camp staff. Shortly after 8:00 P.M., all of them donned their raincoats and raised their umbrellas for the trek down the hill to the shed. By that time, the parking lot was full of cars and a large part of the auditorium was full of people.

Broadcasting equipment was set up, and the boys and girls in their white dresses and white pants and shirts were on the stage. Then, as the rain continued to pour, Thor Johnson raised his hands and the concert began. The orchestra played Glinka's Overture to Russian and Ludmilla and Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony. Miss Farrell sang arias by Massenet and Verdi. By that time the audience had forgotten the rain, the prospect of a long drive home, wet feet and chilly air. They were actually intoxicated by the thrill and utter amazement that such inspired music could come from such young musicians. When it was all over, the audience rose to its feet in a burst of applause and "bravos!" to Mr. Johnson and his young orchestra. The concert had been worth the discomfort and worth the price. Apparently, these people felt they had received more than shares of "Faith in American Youth."

The Verdi Requiem served as the grand finale of the 1950 festival, with massed choral and orchestral forces of over two hundred musicians, featuring soloists Norma Heyde, Margaret Thuenemann, William Hess, and Julian Patrick. The concert was recorded by the Protestant Radio Center, Inc., a non-profit religious organization of Atlanta, and was made available in record form. Anyone donating twelve dollars or more to the scholarship fund received a copy. Designed as a memorial souvenir of the Brevard Music Festival, the album's cover contained a map of the camp, drawn by Corydon Bell of Sapphire, a well-known artist whose works were exhibited throughout the summer. This recording was one of the first of the Verdi Requiem in the United States.

F. S. "Buck" Best was elected chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brevard Music Foundation, Inc., at the summer meeting, succeeding Mrs. Henry Carrier, who had served as leader since its inception. In recognition of her work, the board elected Mrs. Carrier Honorary Chairman for Life. Mrs. Harold N. Cooledge of Atlanta was elected Vice-Chairman. With the 1950 season drawing to a close, the trustees publicly expressed their appreciation to the many friends of the Foundation for their support during the year. With many projects in mind to expand the camp's usefulness to talented youth and the music-loving public, the trustees looked forward to continued success in the years to come.

Transylvania Music Camp and Festival is, in my opinion, one of the greatest additions to the cultural life of Brevard and its vicinity which has been created during the last years. My support of your effort is the result of my observations of the wonderful work which is being done by you and your associates. Music plays an inexpressible part in people's lives. I assure you of my continued support of your institution during the years to come.
- Harry H. Straus, from a November 1949 letter to James Christian Pfohl

The Brevard Music Foundation dedicated the 1951 Camp and Festival to the late Harry H. Straus, loyal benefactor and trustee. Straus, one of America's great captains of industry, built Ecusta Paper Corporation and was a devotee and promoter of music for the personal enrichment of life and the cultural advantage of the citizens of western North Carolina. In August, eight days before her husband was to be memorialized in the Festival's concluding concerts, Mrs. Straus died at her home after a lengthy illness. Performances of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, the Pathetique, and Mendelssohn's Elijah were given in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Straus.

Overflowing audiences heard the two Sunday concerts of Elijah, featuring soloists Norma Heyde, Gloria Gonano, James Schwabacher, and Andrew White. This program ended a summer music series that included thirty-eight regular camp and festival concerts, two extra chamber music programs, eighteen church programs, seven "pops" concerts, six Sunday evening vesper programs, and a number of radio broadcasts.

As the annual camp and festival continued to expand, the Foundation began to accumulate a substantial debt. Transylvania County representative Ralph Fischer introduced a bill to the North Carolina legislature requesting a lump-sum payment of thirty thousand dollars to retire the debt. "The Transylvania Music Camp and Festival has provided musical education to talented young people without regard to financial ability to pay. This policy has prevented the Foundation from accumulating funds to retire outstanding indebtedness. The debt will jeopardize the Foundation's future unless funds are secured. North Carolina is encouraging institutions and agencies which educate our people and those that bring tourists to the state. This organization has become one of the outstanding summer features of western North Carolina." Pfohl appeared before the committee stating, "Brevard has become the 'Summer Music Capital of the South,' and has attracted tourists from thirty-seven states." On April 6, 1951, the House approved the bill, appropriating thirty thousand dollars.

In honor of the generous gesture from the legislature, a Statesman's Holiday Program was offered at the camp, featuring Handel's Water Music, a Boccherini cello concerto featuring faculty member Lorne Munroe (principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra), and the one-act opera The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti. Other highlights of the camp season included: a piano performance by Richard Cass, then a junior at Furman University and the winner of the Columbia Music Festival Young Artist Competition; the dedication of the South Carolina practice cabin, the first donated by a state; the premiere of Thomas Wolfe, American by Don Gillis; David Smith's performance of Bartok's Third Piano Concerto at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, where Bartok wrote much of the work; and continued broadcasts of camp and festival concerts over the Mutual Broadcasting System.

The 1951 season also brought the renowned music critic Olin Downes to Brevard for a series of lectures. His visit was the beginning of a special relationship that flourished until Downes's untimely death. The first of several articles written by Downes appeared in the New York Times after his initial visit.

The Sixth Brevard Music Festival, given under the auspices of the Brevard Music Foundation and directed by James Christian Pfohl, is a remarkable example of a festival developed by a man and a community for the most intelligent and constructive ends—strictly "grass root" and of native creation. The orchestra of 87 and the chorus of 104 are the backbone of the festival. In the orchestra the players, of both sexes, range in age from 13 to 18. We heard them in a rousing performance of Dvorak's Carnival Overture; a musicianly and clean-cut reading of Beethoven's 8th; and a sensitively phrased and balanced interpretation of Debussy's Apres-Midi...and a spirited rehearsal of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade.

The orchestra gives pops concerts on Monday nights in Asheville, it plays in neighboring towns, in rotation, in the wintertime. Mr. Pfohl does everything as teacher, conductor, choral coach, organizer, and impresario. His plans look far ahead, on lines now clearly visualized to the establishment of a great Southern conservatory.

- from the New York Times, September 2, 1951

The guest artists that appeared in the 1952 Brevard Music Festival read like a roster from Carnegie Hall. For example, the young, brilliant Greek pianist Gina Bachauer presented two concerts entitled "200 Years of the Piano Concerto." In two consecutive evenings she performed concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff. Bachauer, one of the few pianists to study with Rachmaninoff, made her debut in Athens, Greece under the direction of conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos. During the war she lived in Egypt and gave more than six hundred concerts for the entertainment of the allied troops. Following the war she returned to Greece and concertized for various relief and reconstruction organizations f-or benefit of the Queen's Fund. In 1946 she made her English debut and was an immediate success. After her American debut in 1951, Mme. Bachauer was praised by every audience that heard her. After hearing her in concert in Charlotte, Bob Page of the Charlotte Observer claimed, "She has definitely confirmed her great promise as one of the world's leading contemporary musicians." Accompanying her "200 Years of the Piano Concerto" was the first Festival Piano Master Class, conducted by Dr. William S. Newman, head of the piano department at the University of South Carolina.

Olin Downes returned for his second festival in a unique program. His lecture "Sibelius and His Second Symphony" preceded a complete performance of the work by the Festival Orchestra. Another "first" for the festival was the appearance of concert comedienne Anna Russell, whose program featured satire of the highest quality. One of the foremost American violinists of the time, Isaac Stern, appeared with the Festival Orchestra in a performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto. The great Wagnerian soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Margaret Harshaw opened the festival. Two famed oratorios were presented—Haydn's Creation and the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms. Running concurrently with the festival was an art exhibit in the camp lodge, featuring woodwork, handmade furniture, photography, and oil paintings by established area artists At the conclusion of the festival, Transylvania Music Camp moved a step closer toward its goal of musical education for youth of all ages by holding an impressive ground-breaking ceremony for the new twenty-thousand-dollar junior camp. Dedication, a piece written especially for the occasion by Vittorio Giannini, was played during the ceremonies, with Giannini conducting. Construction of the junior camp, known as the "Piccolo" division, began that September. The new addition, with facilities located above the existing camp site, was designed to accommodate sixty-five boys and girls from ten to twelve years old. Up to this time, the camp accepted applications only from music students in the twelve- to twenty-year-old age group.

Although the Transylvania Camp and Festival met with success from day one, the 1952 season illustrated the truly national reputation gained by Pfohl and his mountain musicians. Artists of international acclaim began to express an interest in appearing at Brevard. Undoubtedly, word spread by print, radio, and especially by mouth from the likes of Downes, Bachauer, Stern, List, Glenn, Farrell, and Harshaw. On the exciting horizon were Joseph Fuchs, Jorge Bolet, Grant Johannesen, Leonard Pennario, Ruggerio Ricci, Phyllis Curtin, and Beverly Sills.

To be continued...

Previous chapter


© 2007 Brevard Music Center