Scan 8
Musical Courier 1892-06-15: Vol 24 Iss 643, 1892
119 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 9. See the scan on archive.org.
1were the round, full, pure tones, unusual carrying power, and nicety of shading.
3As a general thing, musical connoisseurship in church is below par, people requiring to see rather than hear as fruits of their musical contributions. But secular musical education is gradually training all people to be unconscious judges of the good and true in sound, and it will not be long before the demand for correct tone production will necessitate the establishment of some educational means in the city for creating it.
5Mr. Stubbs characterizes the growth of the boy choir movement as "enormous." He estimates about 1,200 boys in the city Episcopal choirs. He wishes a school above all things, but does not think that one to meet the most practical wants of to-day could be maintained at less than $1,500 a year. In Europe the endowments made in this cause are fabulous, the boys are educated in Greek, Latin, &c., as well as music, and then are "articled" as choir boys and expected to know their business.
7He thinks that, with the instruction they receive, $2 a month is good pay for the average chorister. Soloists get what they can; $600 a year is one of the best salaries paid in the city to a boy soloist. He trains boys on vocal exercises alone at each rehearsal twenty minutes. The German makes the best material for the boy choir. He forbids cigarettes as destructive to the whole physical condition, as well as burning up the throat. The members of his choir must give up the habit or the position.
9He would much prefer that boys had no singing experience than that which they receive at the public schools. It makes them twice as difficult to teach and undoes all that he does. The training there is either wrong or insufficient; the result is disastrous. (Mr. Stubbs is supported in this by every organist I have heard give an opinion upon the subject.) The boys' low register only is cultivated, the tone is a "bray," the singing saw mill pattern. Indeed the average choir boy will not sing in school and laughs at the work. Nevertheless choir masters must look largely to the public school for troops. Some of them keep the teachers on the lookout, making it of financial interest for them to do so.
11Mr. Stubbs' choir numbers forty voices, twenty-five sopranos, six tenors, six bassos and three counter tenors. The "counter tenor," or man soprano, is the orchid of the male choir garden. He is to be found extensively only in England, as the voice is largely a matter of development. The pure alto voice is also extremely rare here, not one boy in twenty-five having it; a low soprano is usually sung in place of it and in many instances cannot be heard.
13When the training is correct choir singing does not injure boys' voices. In the hands of a skillful man a boy may keep on singing even through the change of voice, but it is safer to stop, even speaking as little as possible. The well trained voice does not "fly all to pieces" when it changes, but sinks gradually. Richard Henry Warren sang too soon after the change and so spoiled the quality of his voice. This was not the fault of anyone, however; he simply loved to sing and did it. His father says he had a remarkably beautiful boy voice.
15Mr. Stubbs does not see a future for the girl choir, parenthetically stating that although it is said to be the most "angelic" the biblical angel is always referred to in the masculine gender. The first movement made toward a girl choir was in Melbourne, Australia. It has been abandoned. It was supposed that it would prove a cheaper commodity and also more amenable to discipline.
17Boy voices need good acoustics. An echo is helpful. The merging of tones adds to the celestial quality. The singing of St. Paul's is a notable instance of this. Tiling is better than carpeting for resonance, and ceilings should be lofty.
19Boys make remarkable progress in sight reading, and the elevation of taste, the result of study of the works of the masters, is one of the most rewarding features of the choir master's life. It is best to put them at once on good music. They quickly learn to abhor trash.
21Anyone who had read Mr. Stubbs' "Hints for Boy Choirs" would, unaided, recognize his rehearsal room in St. Agnes. Although a temporary room, everything is in "apple pie order," on the principle, which is his motto, that "great perfection is but a collection of little perfections." All the music is sent from Novello, Ewer & Co., London. When a piece is ordered it is sent first to the binders there, where it is sewed into stout covers and banded by strong linen, marked and numbered fit for use. The boys' lockers are militia-like in their precision, and the library looks like a steel engraving. The regular rehearsal room has been planned specially under his direction.
23No money certainly has been spared in outfitting St. Agnes. It has cost some $1,000,000. Good management, good behavior and good money speak from every inch of it, even when bathed in lath and plaster. Even the little slabs bearing the legend "No thoroughfare" were properly "ruled" and "turned," and bore a churchly dignity different from ordinary carpentering. The tinting is in light green. All the furnishing of the chancel is solid marble—even the steps—and richly decorated in green mosaic. The dome is a marvel of churchly art. The church proper is but a small portion of the cathedral-like collection of church rooms, all lighted, ventilated, furnished in natural woods and perfectly appointed. The organ is one of the largest in the city. Dr. Bradley, the rector, is in strong sympathy with the choir work.
25FANNIE EDGAR THOMAS.
27FOREIGN NOTES.
29First Production of "Falstaff."—Another statement that Verdi's new opera "Falstaff" will be produced for the first time in London is likewise a hopeless error. That it will be given during the next carnival season at La Scala may be doubtful, for Verdi himself has already stated his opinion that a comic opera which depends for its success so greatly upon minute detail is not suited to so large a house. The work, however, will in all probability be first heard in an Italian theatre, after which it will be transferred to Vienna, and possibly it may be performed during the summer season of 1893 at Covent Garden, but nothing as to its London production has yet been fixed. Indeed, it is not yet absolutely certain who will be the Covent Garden impresario next year, although it is expected that Sir A. Harris will renew his lease.—London "Figaro."
31A New Opera by Bruneau.—Mr. Bruneau, whose "Le Rêve" was produced at Covent Garden last autumn, is engaged upon a new opera entitled "L'Attaque du Moulin," based upon one of Zola's romances.
33A Gainsborough Musical Portrait.—On Saturday a fortnight ago Messrs. Christie, of London, sold the pictures belonging to the late Earl of Egremont. Among the treasures dispersed was a beautiful example of Gainsborough's, listed in the catalogue: "Portrait of Charles Frederick Abel, seated at a table, composing music, his viol di gamba and bow resting on his left knee, and Gainsborough's favorite white Pomeranian dog at his feet under the table." The picture fell to Mr. Charles Wertheimer for 1,400 guineas. According to Fulcher's "Life of Gainsborough" this picture was among those contributed to the Royal Academy in the year 1777. The opinion of Horace Walpole is extant to the effect that the portrait was "very like and well." Abel is described in Fulcher's biography as being "in a sitting posture, his head, slightly turned upward, has a character only discernible in Gainsborough's portraits of musicians. The viol di gamba is well drawn; musical instruments were, indeed, a study with him. 'I have seen him,' says his friend Jackson, 'for many minutes surveying, in silence, their perfections.'" Another portrait of this renowned player, now in the possession of Mr. W. H. Cummings, was also painted by Gainsborough. It is a three-quarter length of the musician playing on the viol di gamba, and is distinguished by its careful execution, beauty of coloring and deep expression.—London "Musical News."
35A Popular Concert at the Vienna Exhibition.—The first popular concert of the Exposition Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Prof. Hermann Grädener, took place on the 12th inst. The program was well selected and deserved the applause that was given. It was as follows:
37Trumpet overture………………………………………Mendelssohn
38Andante with variations from op. 76, No. 8…………….Haydn
39String orchestra.
40Symphony in A major………………………………….Mozart
41Symphony in G minor, op. 32……………………………N. W. Gade
42Ballet music to "Rosamunde"……………………………Schubert
43"Komarinskaja"………………………………………Glinka
44"Schoenbrunner Waltz"……………………………….Lanner
45Hungarian dances………………………………………Brahms
47Brahms in Paris.—The first performance in Paris of Brahms' "Schicksalslied" was given on the 27th ult. by the Euterpe Choral Society, under the direction of Duetil d'Ozanne. The words of the cantata have been ably translated into French by Amédée Boutarel.
49The Duke's "Cassilda."—A romantic opera, "Cassilda," composed some forty years since by Duke Ernest of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, was performed on the 3d ult. both at Leipsic and at Darmstadt in honor of the golden wedding celebrated by the duke and his consort on that day.
51A New Grieg Society.—A Grieg society has been formed at Leipsic by the Scandinavian students of the Conservatorium, who commemorated the fact by a concert, given on the 17th ult., at the Leipsic Crystal Palace, the program of which included the string quartet in G minor, a piano piece, and a number of songs by the Norwegian composer.
53Anniversary Celebrations.—The famous Maennergesang Verein of Cologne celebrated on the 27th ult. the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation with the performance in the cathedral of a requiem, in memory of its deceased members, and a grand concert in the Gürzenich Hall.
55The twenty-fifth anniversary has just been celebrated at Bucharest of the foundation of the Philharmonic concerts, an institution which has done excellent work in cultivating the taste for high-class music among the Roumanian people. The founder of these concerts is Mr. Eduard Wachmann, the present director of the Bucharest Conservatoire.
57An international choral competition is to take place on the 17th and 18th of next month at Brussels, in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Orphéon Male Choral Society in that capital.
59The 150th anniversary of the birth of Grétry was celebrated last month at the Royal Theatre of Liège by the performance of excerpts from the numerous operas by that master, followed by an admirable discourse delivered by Arthur Pougain, the eminent Paris musical savant, and the performance of a "Hymne à Grétry," specially written for the occasion by Sylvain Dupuis. The proceedings terminated with the fiftytieth representation at Liège of Grétry's chef d'œuvre, "Richard Cœur de Lion," which was most enthusiastically received by an audience which crowded every part of the house.
61Columbus centenary celebrations are in course of preparation also at Mexico, where the proceedings will include the performance, at the National Theatre, of a new opera, "Cristoforo Colombo à San Domingo," by Giulio Morales, the son of Melesio Morales, a professor at the Conservatorio of Mexico, whose opera "Cleopatra" met with distinguished and lasting success at that capital last year.
63Agnes Burg's Concert.—Here is a program of a concert given May 29 by the pupils of Agnes Burg, the well-known vocal teacher of Berlin:
65Quartet, "Ave Verum"………………………………….Mozart
66Misses Corti, Deutsch, Messrs. Hesse, Hoffmann.
67Lieder, "So halt' ich endlich"……………………………Graf Hochberg
68"Annie Laurie"………………………………………Miss Corti.
69Duet, "Freischutz"…………………………………….Weber
70Margarethe and Alice Stargardt.
71Lieder, "Avec tes yeux"……………………………….Lassen
72"Die blauen Frühlingsaugen"………………………….Riess
73Miss Hopkinson.
74Lieder, "Durch die Mondnacht"………………………..Graf Hochberg
75Jagdlied……………………………………………..Mrs. Brandt.
76Duet, "Heller wird es schon"………………………….Graf Hochberg
77"La note tace"………………………………………Graf Hochberg
78Miss Corti, Mrs. Brandt.
79Quartet, "Wanderers Nachtlied"……………………….Graf Hochberg
80Misses Corti, Deutsch, Messrs. Hesse, Hoffmann.
81Lieder, "Komm' wir wandeln"………………………….Cornelius
82"Vergebliches Ständchen"…………………………….Brahms
83Miss Poister.
84"Wenn die wilden Rosen blühn"………………………Bunger
85"Sommerspiel"………………………………………H. Sommer
86Lieder, "Reiselied"………………………………….Graf Hochberg
87"Bitte"……………………………………………..Graf Hochberg
88Miss Deutsch.
89Andante, "Der Troubadour"…………………………..Verdi
90Lieder für drei Stimmen:
91Nacht……………………………………………..Graf Hochberg
92"Die Spelinge"………………………………………Graf Hochberg
93Frauenchor…………………………………………Graf Hochberg
95Berlioz Performed by a Bavarian Band.—The recent successful concert performance by the musicians of the Fifth Bavarian Infantry Regiment stationed at Bamberg of Berlioz's symphony "Harold in Italy," under the direction of Emil Berow, deserves notice as a remarkable and praiseworthy effort on the part of a military band.
97Wagner in France and Spain.—"Lohengrin" was recently performed for the first time in Sevilla under Bimboni's direction and with great success, while "Tannhäuser" was brought out in Lyons with a perfect furore in spite of the fact that the tenor fainted in the second act.
99Suppé's Latest.—Franz von Suppé, the Viennese operetta composer, has just finished a new opera, "Telemachus." one of two readings
100Suppé's Latest.—Franz von Suppé, the Viennese operetta composer, has just finished a new opera, "Telemaclus." one of two readings
102By Cable from London.—London, June 11.—Isidore De Lara's new opera, "The Light of Asia," was produced for the first time at Covent Garden to-night, in a brilliant house filled with the composer's friends, who included nearly all the literary, musical and otherwise artistic celebrities now in London.
104The new opera was received with tremendous enthusiasm. Everything was applauded and everything seemed to amply deserve applause.
106The mise en scène, which required great display, was perfect.
108Precisely what rank the opera will take musically when the critics and the public have had time to digest it it is hard to say, but as a first night performance it was a brilliant success.
110The music leans more to the Wagnerian than to the Italian school, though De Lara claims he has carefully avoided any particular school, and has not demonstrated himself the disciple of any particular master.
112The orchestration and choral music was beautiful. If any fault is found it will be with the measured heaviness in certain solos.
114Emma Eames, who created the part of "Jasodhara," has some deliciously sensuous music, which secured her immediate success.
116Lassalle's part as "Buddha" is heavier and more stately, but he also made an undoubted success.
118London, June 11.—The official program of the perform-
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.