measurable, for it is confined in no limit of rhythmic beat, thematic structures, or chromatic formula. Not that there is no beat, no structure, no key-scheme; such a course would result in chaos; but the beat is not limited by regularly recurring bar-lines, or the structure by fixed patterns—if the expression be allowed—of development. . . . The uniformity of timbre through the sole employment of the human voice, the absence of percussion, or of violent changes of any sort, create an atmosphere on which the spirit floats." And if passages of this sort occur too rarely in the book to give us any great sense of the life within Pierluigi, and to create a veritable biography of the man, they occur sufficiently often to recall to memory instances we have heard the works of the great Palestrinian, and to spread the awareness of the human greatness expressed in them.
The following announcement has been sent us by the International Composer's Guild, of 29 West 47th Street:
"The International Composers' Guild was organized primarily last season to liberate the composer from the existing conditions, which generally hamper his work being presented at all or in an ideal manner. The effects he is to produce and the progress he is to make in his art are normally conditioned by self-interest of managers, the traditions of most conductors and performers, and the prejudices of a public accustomed to such traditions and limitations and oblivious of the fact that each new conception demands new means of expression and that the
'classics' of today were the innovators and path breakers of yesterday.
"It is the aim of the International Composers' Guild to give the living composer the greatest degree of independence and opportunity. Prejudices do not exist in the selection of works to be performed. It has a fixed program in its devotion to contemporary composition, regardless of school.
"The International Composers' Guild is in close alliance with similar organizations recently formed at its instigation in different cities of Europe. These organizations pursue precisely similar objects, but each is independent, although proceeding along parallel lines.
"For the carrying on of its work the International Composers'
