WPA symphony orchestras employ unemployed musicians. But they seldom draw crowds or move their listeners to rafter-raising applause. An exception to this rule is Chicago's WPA orchestra, the Illinois Symphony. When it was first organized in 1935 the Illinois Symphony was one of the Federal Music Project's ugly ducklings. For a year it bettelhtooped almost unnoticed. In the summer of 1936, the Music Project's pompous national director, Nikolai Sokoloff, went to Chicago to rehearse it for a concert under his own baton. When he heard it play he was afraid to be seen...
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