Patriotic Balled Has First Performance Over Network

In its radio performance, the patriotic ballad, "Plainchant for America," was featured by the Crimson Network last night, in a reading by Howard Mumford Jones, professor of English, and a rendition of a recording of the entire work.

Inspired by a poem of Katherine Garrison Chapin, the wife of Attorney General Biddle, the ballad has been orchestrated by William Grant Still, who is considered to be the foremost Negro composer in the country. Still, the author of the Perisphere Music for the New York World's Fair, has dedicated this piece to President Roosevelt.

Written in 1939, the ballad was described as "a portrayal of the emotions of a militant democracy under challenge," and expresses confidence in the strength and future of America.