Orchestra Gives Easter Concert With Violinist

"We met, played, liquored, and adjourned," read the old minutes of the College's first musical group, the Pierian Sodality of 1808. But its modern foster child, the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra, could hardly duplicate such wantonness for tomorrow night's Easter concert which starts at 8:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. The second concert of the 1950-51 season selt, working with the new conductor, Russell Stanger.

Lack of time is the orchestra's chief obstacle to a completely professional performance, according to the conductor. Stanger must crowd the necessary ensemble practice for the concerts into two-hour rehearsal twice a week.

Miss Posselt also finds her rehearsal time a bit limited, for she has seven and three-year-old children. Of the nine concert that Miss Posselt offered to play, the Pierian executives--who run the orchestra--decided upon Hindemith's Violin Concerto. Her knowledge of that piece is a benefit derived from her marriage.

It was her husband--Richard Burgin, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra--who introduced the selection in America in 1940. Miss Posselt "immediately stole it" from her husband and has been playing it regularly ever since.

Three Selections

The contemporary violin concerto comes between Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Brahms' romantic Fourth Symphony in tomorrow night's program.

For the second half of the season, the orchestra has added two more to swell its record membership to 82. Joseph Cacciati '54 played bass violin for two years with the National Symphony of Washington under Hans Kindler. Another pupil of Richard Burgin, Barbara Sorenson '52 enlarges the violin section.

When it comes to taking on new Radcliffe members, though, Peter H. Judd '53, general manager of the orchestra, sometimes has to think twice. Last fall, for instance, he received an irate letter from an old member of the Pierian Sodality, John W. Johnstone '05, who founded the first band ever to play at a Yale football game. Johnstone wrote, "why are there Radcliffe girls on the same stage with Harvard men?"

Old Pierian members still have some influence around the orchestra. It was the former organization that began all musical groups at Harvard and indirectly, the Boston Symphony. Pierian started with ten students and claims to be the oldest continuing musical organization in America.

Member Founded B. S. O.

It has had its ups and downs, and points with pride to the year 1852 when it had only one member and to 1881 when one of its members, Henry Lee Higginson, founded the Boston Symphony.

There are black sports in Pierian history; in 1925, a manager floated bonds to finance a transcontinental tour. This put the Pierian Orchestra, as it was called during the '20's, in debt until it became the Harvard University Orchestra in the '30's.

Until that time, the University's orchestral group might have been deemed unfit to play on Easter Sunday. In the ante-1900 era it was a renowned drinking club, and its members often spent their time serenading under the windows of Boston's debutantes.

But the present Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, formed in 1942 amidst many protest, has not completely broken with the "liquoring" tradition. The College dean supplied free beer after concerts in the 19th century, but now the orchestra digs into its own treasury. No member likes to admit that after last December's concert, "we were all so tired, we left a case begging."

Although Pierian fostered the glee club and band, the orchestra is the only large group it now rules. But Pierian continues to found new musical groups.

It has organized the College's first Chamber Music Workshop this year under former orchestra conductor, Malcolm Holmes '28. The group has performed at Lowell House and Radcliffe so far. The Pierian Chamber Players of Eliot House, under Leonard Marcus '51, are another of the Club's achievements.

Spring Tour Cancelled

Executives of Pierian have fallen short of their grandiose plans for this year. Only the spring concert on May 13 remains after tomorrow's performance. The spring tour was cancelled because of last minute scheduling complications. The tour in the past has included girl's colleges along the eastern seaboard.

One Pierian executive feels badly about this cancellation. He treasurers the memory of one joint concert with an orchestra conducted by a lady whose evening dress strap kept falling down. Men in the orchestra paid attention to the conductor until the gown was fixed with scotch tape after the second number.