Ellenor Cook

              ELLENOR COOK

Figure

Folk Songs from Picturesque Lands
In Costume
For Terms and Dates Address-MISS COOK, 722 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, Conn.




Miss Cook in a Slovene costume obtained from a peasant woman who, half a century ago danced in this very dress before Emperor Franz Josef




ELLENOR COOK
FEW artists in recent years have won such universal success as Ellenor Cook.  Miss Cook is an American, she attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington and is a member of the Junior League and the D. A. R. But from the first moment that she heard a Czech peasant woman sing her native songs she found something deeply sympathetic to her nature.  Since then she has been creating beautiful programs fashioned out of the folkways of Central and Eastern Europe, in costume, in folk song and in quaint dance rythms.

As Miss Cook has been content to take only genuine folk songs, much of the music is in manuscript brought directly from the village street and cottage stoop.  She has procured the loveliest and most authentic of costumes which she and her accompanist wear in all programs.  In perfection of detail as to fabric and color tones, and even more remarkable in perfection of accent and gesture Miss Cook has woven together the dreams of many old nations in a finely conceived unity.

Folk song recitals are often given, but here there is more; here there is imaginative design — a bright and clear pattern of loveliness — wherein are wrought those hidden dim and far off things which belong to the memories of men.

G. H.



TESTIMONIALS

ROYAL ROUMANIAN LEGATION, Washington, D. C.
When Miss Ellenor Cook, in Roumanian costume, sang with such expression and pathos Roumanian popular songs, I was deeply touched and reminded of my beautiful and so far country.—G. Cretziano, Minister of Roumania.



LEGATION OF THE SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES, Washington, D. C., March, 1926.
I need not assure you that I follow with the greatest interest your work in interpreting the Folk Songs of Serbia, Croatia and the Slovene country, and as representative of these countries in the United States I wish you every success in your endeavor.—Dr. A. Tresich Pavichich, Minister of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.



LEGATION OF POLAND, Washington, D. C.
I take pleasure in expressing to you my thanks for the kindness which you have shown by reciting for us in such a charming and artistic manner the Polish Folk Songs, when at the Legation a few weeks ago.  I certainly enjoyed the recital very much.—J. Ciechanowski, Minister of Poland.

As a Pole and artist I render homage of sincere appreciation and gratitude to Miss Cook for her interpretation of Polish songs and dances, distinguished by captivating charm and a rare understanding of the Polish people and its spirit.—Sigismond Stojowski, New York City.



TRANSLATION FROM THE SVORNOST CZECHOSLOVAK NEWSPAPER, Chicago, Ill.
The greatest surprise came when Miss Cook sang a whole program of Czech and Slovak songs in their original language. Those present were astonished to learn how an American girl, who had not even heard Czech spoken before she was twenty years old, could master our songs with only a slight foreign accent audible.  Miss Cook not only sings these songs but interprets them in their true sense with appropriate mimicry and charming gestures, dance steps, and all else which goes with a lively, absorbing interpretation of our pearls of Folk Songs.



A RUSSIAN TRIBUTE, New York City.
The underlying feature of Miss Cook's work is her great charm of personality which never fails to captivate an audience.  Combining this quality with the greatest love for her art and her genuine talent, she has managed to reproduce to perfection the spirit and verve of the songs and dances of her program.  I judge her by her Russian and Ukrainian songs of which I have a thorough knowledge. Without exaggeration I may say that I sometimes completely forget I am listening to an American girl and not to a native Russian singer.—Andrew Salama, Former Member of Moscow Art Theatre and Assistant Director Russian Symphonic Choir.

It was said it was the most perfect social day our Club has ever had.—Mrs. G. Reginald Crossley, Director of Study, Century Theatre Club, New York City.

Miss Cook's recitals of folk songs in costume are a delight to the eye and to the ear, and are wonderfully faithful interpretations of the spirit of their respective countries.—Clara Damrosch Mannes, David Mannes Music School, New York City.

Both artistically and musically her work is delightful, and the evenings that she has spent with us are among our pleasantest memories.—Mr. and Mrs. Robert Porter Keep, Miss Porter's School, Farmington, Conn.

I cannot possibly tell you how much we were pleased by Miss Cook here.  Her recital was a perfect work of art.  Everyone was enthusiastic and declared it was one of the most attractive evenings we have had.  I sincerely hope that our plans for next year will make it possible for us to have Miss Cook here again.—Herbert F. Preston, St. George's School, Newport, R. I.

The enthusiasm of the audience was unmistakable.  There are very few in the lecture recital field who possess your fine platform gift.—Charles D. Atkins, Director, Dept. of Education, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Ellenor Cook makes a special appeal to the foreigners because dressed in their colorful native costumes and interpreting in her charming way their native songs and dances, she makes them feel at home.—Esther E. Sleight, Executive Sec. International Institute, Y. W. C. A., Yonkers, N. Y.

I have heard nothing giving such an accurate and vivid picture of the spirit of the peoples whose songs you sang, as the charming concert which you gave.—Ralph W. Hollinger, Sec. European Field Staff, National Council Y. M. C. A., N. Y. C.

May I take this occasion of adding my own appreciation for the spirit with which Miss Cook entered into the program.  Of course the music was charming and the costumes were most interesting, but I believe the ultimate success of the program was due to the personality of the performer.—Arthur W. Quimby, Curator, Dept. of Musical Arts, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

Ellenor Cook is an able and accomplished entertainer.  She has a charming personality and gives recitals of interest and beauty.  I think any performance that she might give would be a success.— William Lyon Phelps, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

On behalf of the faculty and resident pupils of Miss Spence's School, I write to thank you for the charming Recital you gave us last evening.  I think you must have felt the appreciation of your audience and they all hope you will return to us again.—Minnie Catherine Austin, in Charge of Music Dept., Miss Spence's School, New York City.





Places Where Miss Gook has Appeared

Congressional Club, Washington, D. C.
37th Continental Congress, D. A. R., Washington, D. C.
Colony Club, New York City.
Cosmopolitan Club, New York City.
Neighborhood Club, New York City.
The Fortnightly, Chicago, Ill.
New Century Club, Philadelphia, Pa.
Century Club, Scranton, Pa.
Century Club, Rochester, N. Y.
Woman's Club, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Woman's Athletic Club, Chicago, Ill.
Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Fla.
Colonial Dames, New York City.
Musical Research Club, Bridgeport, Conn.
Roumanian Legation, Washington, D. C.
Scherzo Club, Norfolk, Va.
A. A. University Women, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Woman's Club, New Rochelle, N. Y.
Farmington Society, Chicago, Ill.
Minneapolis Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minn.
D. A. R., Rockville, Conn.
Woman's Club, Englewood, N. J.
Benefit Girls Friendly Lodge, New Haven.
College Club, Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Woman's Club, Richmond, Va.
Women's Press Club, Montreal, Can.
Junior League, Fairmont, West Va.
Junior League, Memphis, Tenn.
Junior League, Asheville, N. C.
Town & County Club, Hartford, Conn.
Brooklyn Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Musical Club, Hartford, Conn.
University Club, Middletown, Conn.
Middlesex Woman's Club, Lowell.
Woman's Club, New Bedford, Mass.
Art Museum, Cleveland, O.
Kolo Polskie, New York City.
Woman's Club, Bronxville, N. Y.
College Club, Akron, Ohio.
Parent Teachers Ass'n., Mt. Vernon, N. Y.
National Conference of Social Workers, Memphis, Tenn.
Woman's Club, Bedford Hills, N. Y.
Contemporary Club, Newark, N. J.
Schubert Club, Stamford, Conn.
The International Institute of the Y.W.C.A., in—Akron, Dayton, Lawrence (Mass.); Bridgeport, New Britain (Conn.); Brooklyn, Yonkers, and N. Y. C.; Passaic, Bayonne, and New Brunswick, N. J.
Arts and Crafts Club, Atlanta, Ga.
Woman's Club, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Columbia University, New York City.
Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
Chestnut Hill Academy, Philadelphia, Pa.
Ferry Hall, Lake Forest, Ill.
Birmingham School, Birmingham, Pa.
National Cathedral School, Washington, D.C.
Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, N. Y.
Highland Hall, Holidaysburg, Pa.
Moses Brown School, Providence, R. I.
St. Margaret's School, Waterbury, Conn.
Miss Porter's School, Farmington, Conn.
David Mannes School, New York.
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H.
Brenau College, Brenau, Ga.
Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Ga.
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
University of N. C., Chapel Hill, N. C.
Fermata School, Aiken, S. C.
Winnetka Public Schools, Winnetka, Ill.
Richmond College, Richmond, Va.
St. George's School, Newport, R. I.
Spence School, New York City.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.



Program


Folk Songs from Jugoslavia






Where are the Paths?  (Slovenia)





Little Bird (Croatia)





I Have a Wish (Serbia)





Aman, Beloved!  (Bosnia)





A Scene from the Zagreb Market




Folk Songs from Czechoslovakia






Annie the Miller's Daughter





The Postman





Cradle Song





Sedlak




Dance


Beseda


Piano Solo
On the Holy Mount

Dvorak


Folk Songs from Poland and Hungary






Krakowiak





Rosemary





Petticoat Song




Dance


Mazurka



The River, Maros





Arvalanyhaj





Rare the Barley




Dance


Czardas




Intermission



Folk Songs from Roumania






Two Maidens Washing Wool





The Ardelian Woman





Darling of the Mountains




Dance


Hora


Piano Solo
Meditation

Tchaikowsky


Folk Songs from Russia






Along the Street Snow has Drifted





Volga Boat Song





Easter Song




Dance
Ukrainsky







IMPORTANT
Miss Cook brings with her, her own backdrop and lighting equipment.

Besides combining several countries in one program Miss Cook often devotes an entire Concert to the music of one nation, wearing the various costumes and singing typical songs of the different provinces.  These programs have been of particular interest to clubs or colleges studying a special country, and also to various national groups from Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Hungary and Roumania.

In addition to her regular programs, Miss Cook gives a special Costume Recital of Folk Music in which she accompanies herself.

For the Christmas season, 1928, a program has been arranged a introducing Carols and Yuletide customs of Central and Eastern Europe.

Special programs for children.

Both Miss Cook and her accompanist appear in costume in all programs


In the Costume of a Ukrainian boy





Extracts from Press Reviews

CLEVELAND (Ohio) PLAIN DEALER
—There is no small degree of skill displayed in the performance; also versatility.  Versatility plus, one may say.  For Miss Cook sings with lots of verve and the evident understanding of the folk spirit of her songs, dances expertly and with gusto, and also plays the piano.  (James H. Rogers).


MADISON (Wis.) STATE JOURNAL
—Vivid picture s from Eastern Europe were brought to Madison by Miss Ellenor Cook.  Miss Cook is one of the most charming artists who has appeared on a Madison concert stage.  With her first Czechoslovakian Folk Song she captured her audience and held it entranced for nearly two hours.  Miss Cook has seen and studied the peasants of a dozen nations.  She understands their joys and their sorrows and has the happy faculty of transmitting this understanding to an audience.  (Roy T. Matson).


CHICAGO TRIBUNE
—Miss Ellenor Cook pleased the smart group of Women's Athletic Club members who heard her program of Eastern European songs and dances yesterday morning, with her gay and spritely presentation and the charm of various picturesque costumes.


CINCINNATI TIMES STAR
—Miss Ellenor Cook, a charming Junior League member, gave her Folk Song and Dance program with great success to a packed auditorium at the Cincinnati Woman's Club.


PHILADELPHIA (Pa.) LEDGER
—Miss Cook created a most favorable impression at the New Century Club yesterday, not only for her charming personality, but for her unique manner of presenting some of the most unusual and melodious songs gathered from various musical sources.


SUMMIT (N. J.) SUMMIT HERALD & RECORD
—The little Folk Songs themselves, presented by Miss Cook with perfect artistry, fell on the audience as lightly as snow-flakes, each one a complete crystalization in theme of an emotion, a mood, a turn of thought, not alone nationally characteristic but true to life itself in the universal human appeal.


BROOKLYN (N. Y.) STANDARD UNION
—Miss Cook's interpretations were well delivered and enthusiastically applauded.


KALAMAZOO (Mich.) GAZETTE
—Ellenor Cook gives impressions of the peoples of Eastern Europe in song and dance.  She does much more.  She manages to set your imagination working.  She is mistress of the art of pantomime.  You visualize all that the artist suggests and you rather marvel at the remarkable inflections of her speaking and singing voice.  (Glenn Aumond).


CHARLESTON (S. C.) NEWS & COURIER
—It is not often that so attractive an entertainer as Miss Ellenor Cook is seen in Charleston.  Miss Cook scores on sheer art and personal charm and beauty.  Her songs and dances were attractive, interesting and colorful, but they gained everything in Miss Cook's hands.


JACKSONVILLE (Fla.) COURIER
—The songs were rendered in an artistic manner that only a true artist could accomplish.  The dances contained the fire that goes to make up the Slavic character.


GREENSBORO (N. C.) DAILY NEWS
—Miss Cook's offering proved very popular and was well rendered.  She interestingly interpreted the songs of foreign peoples.


WINSTON-SALEM (N. C.) SENTINEL
—An exceptional program of Folk Songs and Dances that were as rare as they were delightful.


MONTREAL DAILY STAR
—Miss Cook's songs have the advantage that they are the real things, brought by herself from the original sources.  (H. P. B.)


ATLANTA (Ga.) CONSTITUTION
—Miss Cook is a famous authority on Eastern European Folklore.


LEXINGTON (Ky.) HERALD
—In observance of Russian month at the University of Kentucky, Miss Cook sang her songs in Russian, giving an interpretation of each of them beforehand so the audience might be able to appreciate their meaning and spirit.


NEW HAVEN (Conn.) REGISTER
—Miss Cook was successful in bringing to her audience much of the charm and the simplicity engendered in peasant music.  Miss Cook has a charming personality and her well placed voice is suited to the simple and oft times plaintive music, which she presented.


BOSTON (Mass.) HERALD
—Received enthusiastic response.  Her program was arranged by countries, and for each she wore the national costume of the land, bits of whose life, love, and sorrow she brought to a Boston audience.


Miss Cook as a Russian Bayarishna



BUFFALO (N. Y.) COURIER EXPRESS
—These songs and dances were so naturally and charmingly done that the audience found them delightful.


RICHMOND (Va.) TIMES DISPATCH
—Miss Cook brings to her performance many delightful elements—a pleasing personality, an attractive voice, a fine skill in the unusual languages in which she sings.  (George Harris).


ASHEVILLE (N. C.) TIMES
—The amazing feature of the entertainment is the versatility of Miss Cook herself.  She sings charmingly, with great feeling for the Folk Songs she loves, she dances with marked grace and she plays the piano more than well.


PALM BEACH (Fla.) NEWS
—Dressed in costumes of the country Miss Cook captivated her audience with her spirited interpretations.


DAYTON (O.) JOURNAL
—Miss Ellenor Cook, charming young society girl of Hartford, Conn., was most enthusiastically received in her concert.


JUNIOR LEAGUE MAGAZINE (N. Y. C.)
—We would like to give special mention to our own Ellenor Cook, rapidly achieving fame for her Recitals of Folk Songs of Eastern Europe.


CLEVELAND (Ohio) PRESS
—Miss Cook has a direct and a natural way of telling her stories.  Indeed, this was one of the really strong charms of the afternoon.  Her singing, too, is of an order which ought to be more widely copied.  Not that others should try to sing as Miss Cook does; but that they ought to try to sing naturally when they have to sing, and to tell their story effectively, as she does.  (C. B. Macklin).


SCRANTON (Pa.) REPUBLICAN
—With a voice of such merit it was unusual to find the artist also possessed of great talent as a pianist.


PITTSBURGH (Pa.) CHRONICLE TELEGRAPH
— The artist's song groups were interspersed with folk dances done with the required verve and dash and a certain charm that marked all her work.


MIAMI (Fla.) HERALD
—One who gives Folk Songs gaily and artistically and wraps them in their necessary atmosphere by adding costume, gesture and dancing, is Ellenor Cook.  The songs are what folk songs should be—fragile bits taken from life that make us feel more than word or picture, the life tone of other peoples.


ROCHESTER (N. Y.) TIMES UNION
—With the unusual qualifications of a very pleasing voice, considerable ability as a pianist and a thorough knowledge of the people whose customs she is portraying and a charmingly intimate manner of presentation, Miss Cook's program was a rare experience.