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Maurice Levy: So you had the you had the college students? Yeah. Young men
as ushers. The man who headed it was he, uh. On salary. He had been.
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Mary Craft Hardy: Yes. Oh, yes. And the ushers were paid so much. Um, I
think John Luthringer had been an usher. I don't know that he was a college
student. They weren't necessarily college students. But I think he had
grown up in that musical. He was a bachelor and he he was very, very good.
He had that was part of his life taking care of that Music Hall.
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Levy: Where you had you had this wide variety of, uh, attractions in
addition to music, of course. And we won't go into it. But you had you had
lectures and.
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Hardy: Burton Homes. Burton homes. He came. He came every year. And there
was another traveled speaker. I can't think who that was. He came at a
different season and they would put on about five travelogues. And they
were so entirely different from the travelogues of today. I mean, the the
photography and everything. As I remember, the first colored ones Burton
Holmes ever had were still pictures. He didn't have colored movies. He'd
either had black and white movies, and then they'd show some of the colored
slides. And we always got free tickets to that. He'd come in and give us a
lot of free passes, anything to fill the house, you know. And I first, the
first travelogues I ever saw were Burton Homes, and it amused me because my
mother and father, who were buried in 1906, used to say that they courted
at the Music Hall, going to see Burton Homes.
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Levy: Really? Well, a lot of people I know courted going to the to the
organ recitals because that was cheap. Yeah, it was a cheap. It was a cheap
date on a Sunday. Yeah. Just to take a walk through the park and then stop
off there, or was a good place to go when it rains. Yes. To on a Sunday.
But you have you have this variety since the since the symphony was in and
out of bankruptcy.
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Hardy: But they when. They first started broadcasting, they broadcast from
the Music Hall.
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Levy: The symphony?
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Hardy: Yes. I think that was the first broadcasting they did.
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Levy: So it would be back in the 20s.
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Hardy: But no, it was. Well, it was after I was there. Now, I'm not
positive about the first, but I remember they did broadcast from the Music
Hall the Academy of Science and Art used to meet. They had travelogues long
before I ever went there. In the lecture hall, and they got so popular that
they started having them in the Music Hall also. And not also, but instead.
And they wanted it on Thursday nights, and the symphony wanted to have a
broadcast on Thursday nights. So they arranged to have their broadcasting.
Probably for an hour or a half an hour. I'm not sure which before the
Academy lectures. And they let the Academy people come in and listen to the
broadcast that went on for a year or so. I don't remember the exact year.
They like the acoustics? Apparently they like the acoustics of the music
Hall, I don't know.
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Levy: But of course, they they thought the Music Hall, uh, they went to
the Mosque where I guess part of it had to do with the size. Right? Because
the Mosque was much bigger. Mosque held over 3000.
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Hardy: But this was just for the broadcasting. There was no paid or paid
audience.
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Levy: The, uh.
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Hardy: Because I know I'd go. I'd sometimes go down after work and listen
to the broadcast or watch the broadcast.
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Levy: Now, I know that, uh, from a little bit of personal experience that
I've had, that backstage facilities at best were primitive or at the Music
Hall. Yes, because it really wasn't meant for stage presentations as such.
No, it wasn't meant for you had no curtain, no curtain. No. And you had you
had dressing rooms in the back, but you didn't have any space for no.
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Hardy: No orchestra pit. And sometimes we would have to we at their
request, we'd have to unscrew the first and second maybe, I don't know how
many rows around the the center for an orchestra. And it got so that the
screw holes got so big that I think they finally decided that. No more take
it out our chairs, the regular first seats.
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Levy: Right. Yeah, yeah, the theater seats that were.
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Hardy: There when the Pittsburgh Opera first started. They had some of
their operas there. They were. They were, I think, having difficulty with
the stage because it was not it was never meant for theatrical
performance.
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Levy: You couldn't you couldn't have a scenery of any because you had no
place to store it right between even between acts. Right. Uh, it may be
that hallway. Well, we.
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Hardy: I don't know what they did about storage. There's also. Rooms down
in the basement that I bet you didn't.
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Levy: Have anything on that floor. I remember you had that corridor that
went off to the right.
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Hardy: Yes. That's true. There was. It wasn't. It was never meant for
that. We've never meant for it at all. But they managed somehow or other.
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Levy: You're at a variety of courses
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Hardy: Then we had. To build the. Uh. When the Burton Holmes. Would you
stick up his magic ladder? Whatever it was for still pictures. They
weren't. I don't think they were all these movies. Up in the back
somewhere. Then we had to build a place for the projector. But that was
built while I was there. I built a.
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Levy: Platform up there.
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Hardy: Up at the in the rear of the of the second bell.
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Levy: Like a projection booth.
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Hardy: Was never any play. In fact, I think that I think as I remember,
they used to build a makeshift projection booth every time Burton Holmes
would come and it was was on the first floor in the rear, as I remember.
And it was a terrible nuisance to have to put that up each time. And then
they didn't know anything about public address systems. They got that in
while I was there. And a lot of lot of changes were made.
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Levy: They have they they must have spent a lot of money in repairing the
organ. The organ there was an enormous organ, the largest in the world,
wasn't it?
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Hardy: Well, I imagine it was in those days. I don't know how it's. Uh,
and uh, Morehouse, Bowman and Brandt was the name of the organization that
maintained the organ. And they had their headquarters in the Music Hall. In
their workshop was down in the basement of.
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Levy: Because I noticed in looking through some of the annual reports, the
the money spent on releathering, we.
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Hardy: Were always releathering that organ. I didn't know what they were
talking about. That's how little I know about the inside of an organ. I can
play an organ and I can play the pedals, and I can get off of some of the
easy Bach fugues, only the easy ones. But I don't have any idea what goes
on inside that organ. Mr.. One of the men wasn't Mr. Lowman. One of the
other men in the firm took me down and showed me their their releathering
business. But I still am pretty vague about how that sound comes out.
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Levy: Because it's a very expensive instrument to maintain.
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Hardy: Yes, yes. And I understand that it's not in very good condition
now. And they've given up on the recitals, and I think it's too bad. And I
wish they would restore the organ because it I know it is a good organ.
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Levy: Well, the, uh, the larger, uh, I guess in the city there are 2 or 3
organ concert. Uh, recital. Series. I don't know if you call the one at
the. Of course there's one at Calvary. You know where Donald Wilkins plays,
and they bring in, uh, guest organist there.
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Hardy: Well, they are organist Guild puts on a wonderful program. Yes,
yes. You got to come sometime. Maybe you'll enjoy one of their meetings.
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Levy: I I've been meaning to. I've heard Donald play the organ. I know
him, my daughter is. In the Oratorio Society. I know that I go to Saint
Paul's when they hold their, you know, that's a wonderful audience. And I
because I.
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Hardy: Didn't like it very well at first. I didn't like it.
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Levy: I it's pretty overwhelming. Yes, but after you get used to it.
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Hardy: But I remember Doctor Bidwell saying he I ran into him at one of
the dedicatory recitals that Paul Koch had put on. I don't know that he had
played the recital, but he.
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Levy: Well, they had they they dedicated it with E Power Biggs.
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Hardy: Yes, I heard I heard him play them. And, uh. Um. I remember Doctor
Bidwell said. I wouldn't like Cesar Franck on that organ. And I said, I
think I knew what he meant. It was fine for Bach and that sort of composer
in my. Knowledge, which is very limited. I want you to understand that. But
I and I can understand what he meant that the, uh. Who did I say from
Caesar Franck. He wouldn't. He didn't compose his things for an organ like
this. But the cathedral. But most people wouldn't know the difference. I'll
never forget. This has nothing to do with. I hate to get personal.
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Levy: On this, but.
Hardy: You can take this out if you want to. But do you know Paul Koch?
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Levy: Uh, no, but I intend to interview him.
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Hardy: Well, he is quite a talker. You're in for something. And the day
that, uh. No, this was not E. Power Biggs. Uh, I met him. He put on a
recital there, I think the. I think the music probably brought him in. I'm
not sure about that. But they had the Vatican organist up there giving a
recital. So Paul brought a lot of the nuns from Saint Paul's Convent down
to hear him practice, because they weren't permitted to go out at night and
hear the recital. And he spent about 20 minutes or more. I wish I'd had a
stopwatch. I went down to listen to this. I forget what his name was. That
organist from the Vatican. A very good organist. But Paul spent most of his
time talking to the nuns. But telling them about this man. And I felt like
saying, Paul, shut up and let's have the organ.
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Levy: Let them play.
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Hardy: Take that out.
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Levy: Yeah, that's.
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Hardy: Oh, he's a he's a he's a nice guy, but he likes to talk.
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Levy: Well there's nothing wrong with that. Okay.
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Hardy: It took him longer to introduce the organist. And the organist had
time to play. Let's leave it there. Well.
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Levy: He. I'm sure it was an affectionate feeling. Oh, it was, it was.
That's fine. It's much better that way than in some other way. So the, uh,
maybe if I mention it's, uh, there were a number. I. As I went through the
program, I saw something.
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Hardy: Maybe I can tell you something about.
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Levy: You had it. There were a number of string ensembles and string
orchestras that played there.
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.000
Hardy: Well, when the, uh, when.
00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.000
Levy: 33 to 36, the Pittsburgh String Symphonic Ensemble. And.
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Hardy: Oh, yes, I Remember them.
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.000
Levy: The Civic String Court and were most.
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Hardy: Wonderful for chamber music.
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Levy: We asked where most of these concerts were well attended, or they
were just attended by their relatives and friends.
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Hardy: Oh no, I don't, I I'm sure they charged admission and I'm, I don't
remember these particular one I can't remember, but I think they were well
attended.
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Levy: You what, what. Maybe you can identify some of them for me. What is
this? Cardwell Dawson.
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Hardy: Oh, well, that's a Mary Cardwell. Dawson is a black woman. And she
had her own chorus. Her first name was Mary, but they called themselves the
Cardwell Dawson Group, and she later went to Washington and they still
honor her out in Homewood. Uh, one of we, um, you may know, in the. Friends
of the Music Library. What's her name? Black woman who comes. Oh, I.
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Levy: I know I met her. Were you with the, uh, at the meeting two meetings
ago? This earlier in the year. You go the Friends of the Music Library
meeting, and I spoke there.
00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.000
Hardy: Well, you said that was the one on the river, was it?
00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.000
Levy: Yes. And that's the one you missed. Is that the one you missed?
00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:22.000
Hardy: I was there.
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Levy: Uh, Jim Cunningham was there?
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Hardy: Yeah, I was at that one. And I was also at the one up at the, uh.
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Levy: Yeah, I was describing the project. I only talked for a couple of
minutes. I was describing the project. You. Yes. Yes. And I think, yes,
there was a black woman there. And I'm sure that Kathy Logan will give me
the name, because I'd like to find, you know, to interview her. She's in
the Friends. Yes, she's in the Friends.
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Hardy: But she she's often talked about Cardwell, the Cardwell Dawson
group, even though she later went to Washington to live. I mentioned her
husband was I mean Mrs. Dawson. That's what I was in her house one day.
Figured that way out beyond Homewood, would you?
00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:09.000
Levy: They gave they gave annual recitals. Yes. Or annual concerts for
six, seven, eight years. Yeah. From. At least what I picked.
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:19.000
Hardy: She was very talented,
Levy: 36 to 42, maybe a little bit before that. So, uh, the, uh, and then
the Pittsburgh Opera Society must be a forerunner of the Pittsburgh Opera.
00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:33.000
Hardy: Yeah. They started their first, uh, the first, uh, recital. Uh,
first operas they put on were put on in the Music Hall. And it was pretty
difficult. I think. I don't know that they never said so, but it must have
been.
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Levy: The logistics of putting an opera on are enormous anyhow. Yeah.
Although, uh uh. Mildred Posvar. She has that little opera. Uh, I think
they call it the Opera Theater. Yes, I usually.
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Hardy: Hear about it, but I never knew. What did they? I went in the Music
Hall. Uh huh.
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Levy: I went to one of the operas there.
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Hardy: I left because I never ran into her.
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Levy: Not elaborate staging, but singing. And that's what opera is about,
anyhow, is singing. That's true. And, uh, she put on, uh, almost like, I
don't know if you call them chamber operas, but they were they were scaled
down, and, uh, we don't the Pittsburgh Opera cannot put on anything like
that because it's too big. Mhm. They couldn't people aren't going to come
to see 5 or 6 singers.
00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:26.000
Hardy: They often wondered about that because I'd read about it. But since
since I retired, I have missed so many of these concerts that I would have
gone to otherwise.
00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:31.000
Levy: She started out on a small scale. She started at Stephen Foster. I
went to see a very small.
00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:32.000
Hardy: What is she doing now that they've left town?
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:55.000
Levy: Well, I don't think they left town. Uh, although somebody said they
may be leaving town, but no, he intended to stay here. Oh, did he? Oh,
yeah. He intended to stay here. They bought a home somewhere. And she, of
course, is very active in this group. And, uh, I remember hearing her. She
was a very fine opera singer. I remember seeing her with the Pittsburgh
Opera singing in Cosi Fan Tutte, and she was a very good actor.
00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:16.000
Hardy: I didn't I only heard her sing once, and that was the, uh, the
Poetry Society put her on once, and she sang a lot of the lieder, and I
didn't like it, though I'm no critic, but I don't pretend to be. But I
didn't care for the way she sang the lieder because she forgot she wasn't
singing opera.
00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.000
Levy: Now there are two different styles.
00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:41.000
Hardy: I thought when you were singing Schumann and Brahms and Schubert
and those lieder that you stood up there and you sang, but she was waving
her arms around like an opera singer would be, and I didn't think that that
was right. And I thought to myself, well, what do you know about it?
You're. No. You never had any training? Well, I had one year of voice, but
that was a joke. But however,
00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:45.000
Levy: You judged it based on your experience with the hearing lieder.
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:53.000
Hardy: And I think that that was bent that she was. But I bet she's good
as an opera singer because she could be dramatic.
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Levy: So she was a fine actress. She was a she was in Cosi Fan Tutte. She
was very funny. She was a marvelous actress. A lot of stage presence.
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:18.000
Hardy: I'm not too fond of opera and I haven't been to many. And. I would
go, whatever. I got a free ticket, of course, but I like the music, but I'm
not. I like to either hear or see, but I don't like to have to do both at
the same time.
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Levy: As a friend of mine, I like to listen to, a friend of mine says it's
too busy, it's too much going on, that's all. It's distracting you. That's
right. Here's the tenor and the soprano standing in the front. And there
are these people milling around behind them. Yeah, but of course, the
matter.
00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:36.000
Hardy: You don't know whether. To watch, to look or listen. Yeah.
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.000
Levy: You know, it's a. Matter of taste. Of course.
Hardy: I like, uh, symphonies. And I go to the symphony.
00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:51.000
Levy: Now, the art society, which was in business, and in the reports that
you typed, it, indicated that they went out of business in 1943.
00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:11.000
Hardy: And that's about right, because the last of them died off. So the
last of them, the president of the board and so forth, they just. And the
manager. Whoever the manager was now, May Beegle did a good job with him.
Uh, first. Not all. All. Not all this period. I think she had died before
that. I don't know when she died.
00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:25.000
Levy: She she. In other words, she brought in she she was like an agent,
in a way. And no agent isn't the right word, but she was a promoter who
brought in the talent. Right, right, right. She engaged them through
through some agency in New York. Now, she.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:18:57.000
Hardy: Wasn't always what I first started going to the Art society
concerts. I wasn't working down there. That's when my uncle left Pittsburgh
and gave me his art, his life membership. But I used to have to go to
Tatter. My mother would go in town to the Art society office. Then pick up
the tickets because we weren't paying for them. And when I got to the Music
Hall, of course, uh, another thing that in the contract of the Music Hall,
uh, it's said that the manager was to get three seats and they were the
three of the best seats in the House. And a lot of the, uh, managers of
these organizations had never heard of a thing like that. They couldn't
understand why we had to give away three of the good seats. But it was a
little the opera. The person that had managed the Music Hall before Mr.
Ambrose did. I forget what her name was. I didn't know her, but I'd heard
of her. She was still on the payroll as a slight pension. I think I
remember typing her name on the payroll. Anyway, she was a professional
singer or something, and she was the one that I think wanted those tickets.
Then when she retired, they turned it over to our office. And. Used to.
This nice when I could get those managers tickets, because Mr. Abrams
wasn't particularly interested in the concerts and and there were other
people in the office.
00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:58.000
Levy: Too that stayed in.
00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.000
Hardy: That was always in the contract.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.000
Levy: It was always in the contract that. Mr..
00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.000
Hardy: Those three particular seats went to the manager.
00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:05.000
Levy: Mr. Cisney then had them.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.000
Hardy: Well, not as they just came to our office, that's all.
00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:10.000
Levy: Yeah. He had access to he.
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.000
Hardy: Had access to them. Yeah.
00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:18.000
Levy: Uh, here are some other, uh, the Downtown Choral.
00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.000
Hardy: Oh, yes. That was, uh, do you know John Lively?
00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:22.000
Levy: Yeah.
00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:43.000
Hardy: He's the organist at the. But maybe he's retired now. I don't know
if he isn't. He should be sued. He's the organist of the Third Presbyterian
Church, the one that Doctor Bidwell had and the one that Doctor Heinroth
had before that he is. He also was the head of the music department at
Carlow College. Okay.
00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.000
Levy: What's his name? John.
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:55.000
Hardy: John Lively. And he organized this, what they called the Downtown
choral. I don't know why they called it Downtown, but. Because they weren't
Downtown. They.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:58.000
Levy: Every time I saw it, I always thought it was a bunch of businessmen
who sang on their lunch hour.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:05.000
Hardy: No it wasn't. And he it was like the Bach Choir and the Mendelssohn
Choir. And they did. They put on good things.
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:12.000
Levy: Sure. They were there for, uh, from 44 to 54. Maybe I could have
missed a couple of them, but they were there.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:14.000
Hardy: I don't think they had many concerts, but they had.
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.000
Levy: I found six that they named.
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:36.000
Hardy: I knew I knew John Lively pretty well when our organist, we rebuilt
our organ at our church in 19. What did we celebrated the centennial of the
church by rebuilding our organ. And I was the organist in, and I asked John
to come out and play a dedicatory recital for us. And he did. He's quite a
character, so.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.000
Levy: He organized it. And as.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.000
Hardy: Far as I know.
Levy: He organized. He's still around, he's still around.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.000
Hardy: But they haven't had concerts for all those years.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.000
Levy: And then the Pittsburgh Piano Teachers Association, what kind of
programs did they bring in? Uh,
00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.000
Hardy: I didn't. Remember that they'd had them, but I knew a lot of people
belong to it.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:21:03.000
Levy: And the, uh. What, uh, what kind of programs, uh, did the musicians
club bring in? I. Is that still around? Do you know?
00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:17.000
Hardy: Yes. Um, I was one of their dinners some time ago. Um, Joe O'Brien,
I think, belongs to that. You know, Joe. Yeah. He's quite a character.
Well, he's he's. I shouldnt call everybody in here.
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:19.000
Levy: No, no, that's that's that's.
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.000
Hardy: I've known him since we were in high school together.
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:29.000
Levy: But that's not a negative thing at all. The character means that
they stand out, that there's something about him that that that you find
significant.
00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:56.000
Hardy: The last one I. But I know of and belong to. That was a Mr. I'm
losing names so badly in 84, I can't remember my own name half the time. He
just died a few months ago, and I've known him for years. Them were Oscar
Demmler. He was
00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.000
Levy: Oh Oscar, Yeah. I talked to Dorothy last week.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:05.000
Hardy: Last week? Well, uh. What? Yes. He belonged to the Pittsburgh, uh.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:06.000
Levy: Musicians Musicians club.
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:12.000
Hardy: Yes, I know that. And I went to a dinner. Joe O'Brien took me to
dinner.
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:17.000
Levy: What what was the, uh. I see the Pittsburgh Jazz Association, but
they only had.
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:19.000
Hardy: I don't know who they were. I don't remember that.
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:22.000
Levy: That's probably when they came, because there's a new one now.
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.000
Hardy: I know I was there then, but I just don't remember them. Oh.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000
Levy: Well, uh, how about, uh, did you know Charles Boyd?
00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:31.000
Hardy: Charles Boyd.
00:22:31.000 --> 00:23:00.000
Levy: Charles Boyd was an organist. He. He was the organist at the north
on North Avenue, the church on North Avenue, and he was an expert in
hymnology. Uh, we had the Boyd Library at the library. He he he, uh, they
donated. He had a library. Music Library, over 2000 volumes. And I talked
to his daughter last week, Marjorie Boyd Robertson.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:19.000
Hardy: Isn't it funny? That name is so familiar, and I just I just can't
place it in my brain as to what little niche he belongs in. Uh oh. I know
he's the one that that gave all his books. Yeah, the Boyd Memorial Memorial
Library. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I didn't know him then.
00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:26.000
Levy: Because he was an organist of some and he taught organ. He was one
of the founders of the Pittsburgh Musical Institute.
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:36.000
Hardy: Yes, yes. That's right. Yeah. I when you said Charles, I just heard
used to hear of a Maurice Boyd and that I didn't. I guess I knew his first
name.
00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:43.000
Levy: The then there were a number of ethnic groups. You had the Serbian
Singing Federation of America. They appeared there several times.
00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:44.000
Hardy: Oh, I don't remember them. When were they. There?
00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:49.000
Levy: Uh, they have a concert in 48 and 64.
00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:50.000
Hardy: I don't remember them at all.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:00.000
Levy: And of course, the the the the Italian for the for the Italian sons
and daughters. Yes. Uh, band was there in 1964. Uh huh.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:03.000
Hardy: Uh, of course. That was after I left.
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:06.000
Levy: 64. What time? I've been 70.
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.000
Hardy: Oh, 70. I'm glad you're here to remind me.
00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:19.000
Levy: That's all right. Uh, the, uh. And the new Friends of Music. Of
course. They're the forerunners of the chamber music. Yes. Right, right.
And so they put on more or less chamber music programs.
00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:23.000
Hardy: Nothing but.
Levy: They brought in people like the Budapest and things.
00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:49.000
Hardy: Like what was the name of, um. Um, what was his name? His wife is a
very famous pianist. And I was reading her name this morning, Eunice
Norton. Oh, yeah. He's Eunice Norton's husband. Yes. Who is? Not Norton,
but some other day. He was working for the Bureau of Mines. He. He was the
one that arranged all those concerts.
00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:50.000
Speaker3: Okay.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:56.000
Levy: Okay. And they see the Savoyards appeared there at least once.
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.000
Hardy: Yes, I remember, I think I went to that.
00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:09.000
Levy: Uh, they now, uh, they have been appearing in a while for Carlow,
and I think they probably. And now they're they're at the Y.
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:21.000
Hardy: I heard them give up one of their programs at. The 20th Century
Club. They have an auditorium up there. It isn't very big, but. I remember
because I knew one of the young men that was in it, and I went to that,
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.000
Levy: the Savoyards.
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.000
Hardy: They're still going on, aren't they?
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:42.000
Levy: Yes. Yes, they they had I went last year. I took my granddaughter
to, to the Y and, uh, I forget which one we saw. This all? Penzance or
Pinafore, one of them after a while, of course. Yeah, it's the same.
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:44.000
Hardy: Kind of merged together in your mind.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:48.000
Levy: It's a fun two hours. They have such a wonderful time singing.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:56.000
Hardy: And the music is so. Uh, satirical. And it's its own style, don't
you think.
00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:07.000
Levy: it's amazing? I think it's. Wonderful. It's written over 120 years
ago or 110 years ago. It's commenting on British politics. It's good.
They're making fun of, uh,
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Hardy: And even the British. Style is kind of a takeoff on good music,
don't you think?
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.000
Levy: Yeah. He, uh.
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.000
Hardy: And somebody told me that so long lived. I mean, somebody told me
who were the
00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.000
Levy: Of course Sullivan. Was he who wrote the music in Gilbert and
Sullivan.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.000
Hardy: Somebody told me that they didn't speak.
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:23.000
Levy: That's right.
00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:24.000
Hardy: Is that really.
Levy: True? That's right. Well, they did.
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.000
Hardy: It makes a wonderful story.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:27:06.000
Levy: Yeah, but they had a series on public television a number of years
ago. Uh, Gilbert was a very jolly fellow. He was a very witty fellow. And
of course, the and Sullivan was unhappy because he wanted to be a serious
composer. And he did. He wrote several, uh, the, I guess, the most well
known pieces, the Lost Chord, remember the Lost Chord. And he wrote some
other classical music, and it was what I understand was pretty bad. And he
was unhappy that he was going to be remembered for these little melodies
that he wrote for Gilbert's, uh, satirical lyrics. And it's lasted.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Hardy: One probably has better audience of Brahms and Schumann.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.000
Levy: What's that?
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:15.000
Hardy: He probably has a better audience than Brahms and Schumann and some
of the better composers.
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.000
Levy: Well, the kids today, some of them know it. It's a little.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:23.000
Hardy: It's out, I guess, but you never know when a thing like that is
going to come back in again.
00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:43.000
Levy: That's right, that's right. It's happened with several forms of
music. Jazz is revived. Is it really? Yes. The young people know jazz now.
My children didn't know it when they were younger. It was rock. And now.
They listened to jazz record. I mean, you're good. You're good. Uh, the
classical jazz.
00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:44.000
Hardy: Could I make you a cup of coffee?
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.000
Levy: No, no. Thank you.
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:50.000
Hardy: I meant to have some ready for you, and I didn't get around to it.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:01.000
Levy: Thank you. Uh. Do you. There were some other, uh, where we had the
Serbian Singing Federation and Ukrainian Bandurists. I see down here
because there was there was another.
00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:05.000
Hardy: Well, now anything after here was at 40.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:22.000
Levy: Well that was uh, that was 51 and maybe a little earlier. Well some
of these are of course are obscure. American Guild of Organists had a
number of, of, uh, programs there. What did they what kind of a program
would they put on a Trinity Music College? They bring an organist in
there.
00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:23.000
Hardy: What year was that?
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:27.000
Levy: 53, 66? 67. 60.
00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:51.000
Hardy: Well I think one year the the district. The it's a it's a national
organization but a twice in my since I have belonged to it. They have had
the district convention here and I think that's probably.
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:55.000
Levy: The one a larger hall. I suppose that the, the people that come in,
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.000
Hardy: I'm not sure. Whether that was in the 60s or not, but you could
find that out. Very easily.
00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:07.000
Levy: And of course, the barbershop quartets were here for. Place. The
first one I found was 54.
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:13.000
Hardy: And then the Sweet Adelines. Yes, I remember going to one of their
concerts and.
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:29.000
Levy: The, uh, now the generally the technique the the it was just a case
of they signed a contract. Right. And you provided the facility. Yes.
Right. They, they made known their wants, what they needed in the way of
properties on the stage. And, uh.
00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:37.000
Hardy: We would charge extra if they wanted to use the organ. They used
the organ a good bit for high school commencements. I don't know whether
they still have them down there now or not.
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:48.000
Levy: Uh, yes they do. They have they have some commencements, I see. Uh.
Some of the schools have a commencement that, uh, because I live across the
street, so I see them.
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.000
Hardy: And where do you live?
00:29:49.000 --> 00:30:49.000
Levy: I live in, uh, uh, two blocks away. Uh.
