Winona Rewarded

In Minnesota, where the Mississippi spreads itself to be Lake Pepin, a giant rock looms high, the grim reminder of the fate of the Princess Winona. Strangers passing by are inevitable told of the Indian girl and her love for Chatonska, bravest of her uncle's warriors, how with him away at battle she was wedded against her will to the hawk-nosed Matosapa, chief of a neighboring tribe, how, singing, she jumped to her death "and the place ever since has been known as Maiden Rock "

Perry S. Williams, Minneapolis newspaperman, heard the story, mulled over it, embroidered it and made it into a libretto. More than a dozen years ago, it came to the attention of Composer Alberto Bimboni, who saw the possibilities in an opera with an Indian subject. He took one old Indian theme here, made an aria from it for Winona, took another there and made a chorus for the warriors. So it went, until the whole, bound neatly enough together, was presented in November, 1926, in Portland, Oregon, to the considerable credit of composer and librettist.

This week Winona will be given its second presentation, in Minneapolis. There last week plans were made to make it a major event. Mayor George E. Leach was to attend. Composer Bimboni, turned conductor, was working with his orchestra, when word arrived that the American Opera Society of Chicago, of which Edith Rockefeller McCormick is ardent honorary president, had voted him the David Bispham Memorial Medal for distinguished service in the furtherance of American music, that he would be awarded it this week at the Minneapolis performance.