MUSIC FESTIVAL

THE calendar was set back two centuries at Dartmouth late in April. For three days (April 25-28) the Dartmouth Festival of 18th Century Music immersed music lovers from the College and throughout New England in the musical sounds and ideas that accompanied the "Birth of the Classic Style."

About 800 persons were on hand in Webster Hall for the concerts that high-lighted the event. Smaller, but equally intent, audiences attended the panel discussions and seminars that dissected the work of the early classicists and their impact on the musical giants of the 18th century.

The participants in discussions and performances included Paul Henry Lang, music critic of the New York Herald Tribune, professor of musicology at Columbia and editor of Musical Quarterly; Charles Jones, American composer; Carleton Sprague Smith, head of the music division of the New York Public Library; Daniel Saidenberg, guest conductor who has led many symphonic and chamber groups in America; Lydia Hoffmann-Behrendt, pianist who has performed with Dartmouth groups for several years; Karl Geiringer, chairman of the Department of Graduate Studies at Boston University and former national president of the American Musi-cological Society; Joseph Kerman, Hodder Fellow in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton; Helen Boatwright, American soprano noted as a recital and oratorio singer; and Stoddard Lincoln, harpsichordist and music researcher.

Performances were also given by the Colby Junior College Choir, directed by Margaret Cawley; the Dartmouth College Glee Club, under Prof. Paul Zeller; the Handel Society Chorus, directed by Prof. James Sykes; and the Handel Society Orchestra, Donald W. Wendlandt, musical director.

Highlights of the festival included four concerts. The Saidenberg Chamber Players and visiting wind-instrument players, assisted by Mrs. Hoffmann-Behrendt, performed Friday night. Saturday afternoon Mr. Saidenberg was guest conductor at a laboratory concert played by the Handel Society Orchestra.

The Saturday night concert by chamber orchestra consisting of visiting and resident professional musicians and conducted by Mr. Saidenberg highlighted the festival.

In addition the orchestra premiered a work by Charles Jones specially commissioned for the festival. Entitled "Suite, After a Notebook, 1762," it was based on melodies Leopold Mozart wrote for his prodigy son, Wolfgang.

Sunday afternoon the Handel Society Chorus, the Glee Club and the Colby Junior College Choir, with instrumental accompaniment, performed three works including "Mass, Rorate Coeli," a work by Joseph Haydn only recently discovered in Austria. Soviet soldiers had taken it from Goettweig Abbey but had thrown it by the roadside as worthless. It was discovered there by an Austrian forester who returned it to the abbey. H. Robbins Landon, American musicologist, saw it and identified it as the long-lost Haydn Mass. Its performance at Dartmouth was the first in the United States.

Discussions centered on the birth of classicism and the work of those composers who preceded the 18th century musical giants - Mozart and Haydn. Mr. Geiringer described "The Sons of Bach and Their Impact on the New Ideals in Music." Mr. Kerman told of the revolution in musical form that classicism represented, and Mr. Smith described the role of the 18th century classic composers in America.

Mr. Lang lectured on "Classicism, The Shaping of An Era," and was chairman of a panel that delved into the study, composition and performance of the classic style.

And so it went.

According to Professor Sykes, who did research on the matter, the festival may have been the first such event at Dartmouth in 100 years. Apparently the last was in 1857 when a religious music festival was held under the direction of composer Lowell Mason.

But it won't be the last. An alumnus who prefers to remain anonymous provided funds for this year's festival and has also made provision for two more.

A result has been that Professor Sykes and his committee are already discussing plans for next year. The program, exhibits, and arrangements have been discussed and ways sought to improve what was considered an already excellent program. Throughout the discussions there has been a recurring phrase:

"Now, when the Hopkins Center is built...."

Guest conductor Daniel Saidenberg leads a chamber orchestra, including Hanover play- ers and visiting professionals, in a Saturday evening concert in Webster Hall.

Part of the Webster Hall audience during intermission.

Five prominent panel members took part in the opening session on "The Study, Composition and Performance of the Classic Style."

Five prominent panel members took part in the opening session on "The Study, Composition and Performance of the Classic Style."

Five prominent panel members took part in the opening session on "The Study, Composition and Performance of the Classic Style."

A Saturday morning seminar in Sanborn House library dealt with "Aspects of the Creation of Musical Classicism in the 18th Century."

Helen Boatwright, soprano, sang with the chamber orchestra at the Saturday nightconcert and scored one of the top successes of the Festival. Mr. Saidenberg conducts.