Mengelberg Out?

Great was the suspense in a Manhattan concert hall last week. After each burst of applause an expectant silence fell in the audience. Many thought, particularly after the sweeping finale of the Liszt Preludes, that Conductor Willem Mengelberg would speak. He had been presented with a floral wreath. They knew that it was his last performance of the season with the Philharmonic-Symphony.* Their programs told them so. Many suspected, moreover, that it was his final farewell to the Philharmonic and to Manhattan. The rumor had spread that he had criticized the condition in which Conductor Arturo Toscanini had left the orchestra, that Toscanini had heard and resented it; that he (Mengelberg) resented not having been invited to conduct the Philharmonic in any of its European concerts this spring (TIME, July 15). Mengelberg performances this season have suffered sadly in comparison with Toscanini's. Critics have flayed them unhesitatingly. Mengelberg, who for 35 years has been undisputed musical lord of Amsterdam, is unlikely to be willing to continue as second man in Manhattan. Some say that he will go to San Francisco next year to succeed Conductor Alfred Hertz. Other possible Hertz successors: Bruno Walter and Leo Blech, both Germans.

*The Italian Bernardino Molinari will conduct the Philharmonic for the next five weeks. In February Toscanini will return to conduct the season's last eight weeks; on April 23 he will take the orchestra to Europe.

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