Music: Hayes in Berlin

In Berlin some weeks ago, Roland Hayes, Negro tenor (TIME, Oct. 8), gave a concert. To Germans, black men are “colonials”; they encountered them in the French line during the War; more recently, in the Ruhr. Learning that a member of this unpopular race was to appear publicly in their midst, Berliners were indignant. Protests were made to the American Ambassador against the “impertinence” of permitting a Negro to be heard on the concert stage, against the lèst majesté of offering musically scrupulous Berlin the tunes of the Georgia cotton-pickers. Hayes appeared. He sang his first number over the boos of several thousand public-spirited citizens who had come to witness his downfall. The house grew quiet. He sang a group of spirituals, then some songs in German, in French, Italian, Russian, English and one in Japanese. The applause was explosive. Leaving Germany, the dusky tenor received offers for 40 engagements next season.

Now Hayes has returned to the U. S. After a month’s rest, he will tour from Coast to Coast, starting in Brooklyn.