Scan 19
Musical Courier 1894-02-14: Vol 28 Iss 727, 1894
133 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 20. See the scan on archive.org.
1BOSTON, February 11, 1894.
3"HORA NOVISSIMA," the rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix, monk of Cluny, on the Celestial Country, set to music by Horatio W. Parker, was sung for the first time in Boston by the Händel and Haydn in Music Hall Sunday evening, February 4. Mr. Parker was the conductor. The solos were sung by Miss Juch, Mrs. H. E. Sawyer, Mr. William H. Rieger and Mr. Max Heinrich. The orchestra was made up of members of the Symphony Orchestra.
5This oratorio is characterized by a wealth of melodic invention, by a keen, subtle sense of the value of rhythm, by a mastery of contrapuntal art and by a knowledge of instrumental devices. The work is conceived in noble spirit, and although one may dispute concerning the expression of religious feeling in certain numbers, there is nothing tawdry or mean in the carrying out of the projected design.
7Mr. Parker is a melodist by birth. His tunes are not hammered out with pain and sweat; they flow spontaneously. In polyphonic passages polyphony does not become a mere answer to a self imposed problem, but the walk of each voice is fluent and graceful. The inner voices are well nourished; the orchestral figures have something to say worth hearing.
9Neale has described the measure of Bernard's poem as "a dactylic hexameter, divided into three parts, between which a caesura is inadmissible. The hexameter has a tailed rhyme, and feminine leonine rhyme between the two first clauses," and he gives the following effect in English:
11Time will be ending soon, Heaven will be rending soon;
12fast we and pray we;
13Comes the most merciful; comes the most terrible; watch we while may we.
15No wonder that the pious monk affirms in the preface that "nothing but the special inspiration of the Spirit of God could enable him to employ this measure through so long a poem."
17And Mr. Parker may plume himself with reason on his success in avoiding for the most part rhythmical monotony in music. That which must apparently be rigid is with him flexible. Take the charming obligato to "Patra Splendida" (bass solo, page 31) for an example, or the happy rhythmical effects in the double chorus "Stant Syon Atria," which chorus, by the way, must have been suggested by the scherzo in the ninth symphony.
19And right here let me speak of reminiscences, for Mr. Parker has in this work listened to other voices besides his own. In the opening chorus, page 15, there is more than a suggestion of a passage in Tours' "Gloria in Excelsis" in the service in F, and this means that Gounod's music is strained through the sieve of Tours. At the bottom of the same page the "love motiv" in "Walkire" is hinted at and this motiv is found in other places. In the quartet there are strains of "Faust." On page 72 the progression in the accompaniment, B, A sharp, E sharp, G sharp, F sharp, &c., is Mendelssohn's "Wedding March." I confess these few reminiscences do not disturb me, for Mr. Parker has a voice of his own and he speaks clearly and bravely.
21Mr. Parker has a peculiar facility in contrapuntal writing, in expressing his thoughts in the severe style. There is the chorus, "Pars Mea," a noble piece of composition. There is the chorus, a capella "Urbs Syon unica," no merely labored and imitative attempt, but a masterpiece, to which any composer now living would gladly sign his name.
23Mr. Parker is acquainted intimately with the resources of orchestral instruments. He has a sense of color. He revels in the thought of possible combinations. On the other hand his instrumentation is exuberant rather than discreet; in the solos, particularly in the tenor and the alto solos, there is excess in accompaniment, and the singers suffer thereby.
25It may be permitted for one to say here that the tenor and the alto solos are the weakest portions of the work from the strictly musical standpoint. The tenor solo, sung intelligently by Mr. Rieger, made little effect, nor is the exuberant instrumentation alone at fault; the tonality is too unsettled and the continual modulations cause fatigue. The notes of the alto solo lie chiefly in the pale, neutral sexless part of that voice.
27And in spite of many fine passages in the final chorus, I was disappointed in the chorus as a whole. To me the opening vocal measures are merely vain, meaningless counterpoint. The chorus is too long; there is a frittering away of the one great expected, demanded climax.
29I have not yet spoken of a marked feature of the "Hora Novissima," and that is the singular mingling of the operatic so called with that which is sternly ecclesiastical. In the very first chorus the phrase "Recta remuneret" might be swung by any chorus in any half dead Italian opera, while the conductor is stamping the time and the atmosphere of the stage is heavy with garlic. In the quartet in the soprano solo, and in choral passages, as in the "Spe tamen ambulo" (page 142 seq.) there is an opera house in sight.
31Now Mr. Parker in this same work has shown his appreciation and his mastery of antique religious musical art. He reaches his greatest height of expression and his most exalted and rapt conception of the bliss and the glory of the Celestial Country is in the polyphony known to the Netherlanders and the great Italians. But Mr. Parker is also a man of our own day. By nature he is musically sensuous, and in "Hora Novissima," as in Chadwick's "Phoenix Expirans," as in Tinel's "St. Francis," sensuousness and mysticism embrace each other.
33* * *
35Here enter many questions. Let me this week only proound a few; for the present I take no side.
37Other things being equal, who would write the purer religious music: A Roman Catholic, a routine Protestant, or an Agnostic in the true meaning of the word?
39Is the fugue in these days necessary in one form of the expression of religious music, or is it merely an impertinent and irrelevant and irreverent tradition?
41Who shall decide what the confines of religious music shall be?
43Who shall define religious music for the modern world? Is there any such thing as religious music, except as it is heard by the individual hearer?
45* * *
47In this connection let me call your attention to the remarks of a writer in a late number of the "Pall Mall Gazette:"
49It is rumored—and in certain circles such a rumor is naturally the occasion of much heart flutter—that the Pope is about to publish an Encyclical letter prohibiting the use of florid music in Roman Catholic churches. By such a command the music of Mozart, Haydn and many another will be in future forbidden for consecrated use. Now this is hard. It may be true that Haydn disbelieved, or at least entertained heresies concerning the true doctrine of the Trinity, as he plainly showed by certain significant omissions in his third (or Imperial) Mass. Nevertheless, he never composed without reciting his chaplet; and Mozart had the profoundest attachment to his Church—at least, when he was young.
51The Pope, we fear, has little sense of relativity, an admirable failure in a Pope; and therefore he creates in Palestina an absolute standard, by the extent of whose measure all other musicians are compelled to fall, at least ecclesiastically. If we thought that the Pontiff really judged by a standard of musical criticism, we should really have an admiration for his Holiness' judgment. The fact is that Mozart's masses are not very serious composition; as a rule they are feeble and conventional. But when one feels morally convinced that it is the manner and not the matter that is condemned, one is filled with a certain sense of regret. It is right to indulge in some surprise at this point; for, indeed, why florid music should be less divine than the academic—we will not say uninspired—music of Palestina, we are bewildered to discover. Michal had no child till the day of her death. It would be a fitting revenge if the musical successors of Mozart produced no mass from now henceforth.
53Surely here is a good and long text for a sermon next week.
55* * *
57But whatever one may think of this alleged operatic tendency of Mr. Parker's muse, no one can deny the purity and nobility of her expression.
59She may in portions of her song remember the pleasure of the world, but it is with the emotion of a healthy, full blooded woman, a woman fit to be the mother of men; not a chlorotic, neurotic gynandre.
61* * *
63The performance was creditable throughout, often excellent, when the difficulties that befell the singers are taken into consideration. Less worthy of the reputation of the Society was the performance of the dull and disjointed fragments of Mendelssohn's "Christus." I am not a "Mendelssohn man," but as a lover of fair play I protest against the injustice done the composer whenever "Christus" or the "Reformation Symphony" appears on a program.
65Will Mr. Parker's work live? That Time alone can tell. But it is not too much to say now that "Hora Novissima" is an honor to the composer and to his country. And when an American writes such a work it is not absolutely necessary to look to negro tunes of doubtful authenticity for the salvation of American music, or to go a pilgrimage to Spillville, Ia.
67* * *
69Mr. Sidney Woodward, a young tenor with a sympathetic voice of good compass, gave a pleasing song recital the 5th in Chickering Hall. He was assisted by Miss Ellen M. Kinsman, soprano, and Mr. Felix Winternitz, violinist.
71Miss Agot Lunde, a contralto, who is in the habit of singing songs that lie just above the working part of her voice, gave a song recital Wednesday evening, the 7th, in Steinert Hall. She sang with a hearty appreciation of the character of each of her selections, and as her program was out of the common run I think it worth printing in full. Many of these songs were new to Boston and our local singers.
73Sonata, op. 92, in C, for piano and 'cello………………Rheinberger
74Mr. Perabo and Mr. Fries.
75"Kraut der Vergessenheit"……………………………Hildach
76"Viel Träume"…………………………………………Sinding
77"Frühlingszeit"………………………………………..R. Becker
78"Mein Liebster"………………………………………Luckstone
79"Meine Mutter hat's gewollt"………………………..Lindblom
80"Mädchen mit dem rothen München"…………………Jan Gall
81"Margretes Vuggevise"……………………………….Grieg
82Nocturne……………………………………………..Popper
83Vito…………………………………………………….Mr. Fries.
84Schwanenlied………………………………………….L. Hartmann
85Russian Folksong…………………………………….Hagen
86"How Many Times Do I Love Thee, Dear?"………….Miss Lang
87"Courtsip"…………………………………………..B. E. Woolf
88"Aftenen er stille"………………………………….Agathe Gröndahl
89"I Arise from Dreams of Thee"……………………..Foote
90"Good Night"………………………………………..Mendelssohn
91"Good Night"………………………………………..Per Lasson
93Miss Emma Juch sang well to a small audience at a Suffolk musicale on the 6th in Music Hall.
95It is reported that Mr. T. Q. Seabrooke has purchased the right to produce "Tobasco," the operetta of which I spoke last week.
97Mr. Carl Faeltin will give two piano recitals in Bumstead Hall February 20 and March 6.
99The receipts of the Worcester County Musical Association for the past year were $8,826.25; the expenses were $11,167.01. Mr. A. C. Munroe, was chosen president at the annual meeting, to succeed the Hon. Edward L. Davis, who, for personal reasons, declined re-election.
101The program of the Symphony concert this week will be as follows: Brahms, Symphony No. 2; Harmanin, overture "Nordischen Heerfahrt" (first time); violin pieces played by Mr. Loeffler; romanza (op. 42), Bruch, and Morceau de Concert, Saint-Saëns; symphonic poem, "Francesca da Rimini," Tschaikowsky.
103West Side Vocal Society.—The West Side Vocal Society will give its second concert of the season on Thursday evening, February 15, at the Thirty-fourth Street Reformed Church. Mr. Charles E. Mead will be the conductor; Mrs. George Beveridge and Matilda Scott Paine, sopranos; Mr. Walter B. Rogers, cornetist; Mr. David G. Beeching, baritone; F. W. Shepperd, tenor, and Miss Elma Leona Robbins, soprano and accompanist.
105Blumenberg Concert Company.—The Blumenberg Concert Company, with Louis Blumenberg, 'cello virtuoso; Caroline Oestberg, dramatic soprano; Palicot, pedalia pianist; Henderson, baritone, and other artists after giving concerts last week at Davenport, Dubuque, Peoria and other cities played this week at Burlington on Monday; Moberly to-day and Sedalia to-morrow. The route follows the larger cities of Missouri and Kansas at present. The company is unusually successful in every respect. Knabe pianos are used.
107Madison Square Garden Concert Hall,
108SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 3,
109Commencing at 8:30 o'clock,
110FIRST ORCHESTRAL CONCERT
111OF
112COURTLANDT PALMER, Pianist,
113Assisted by ANTON SEIDL and his Metropolitan Orchestra.
114PROGRAMME:
1151. "La Damnation de Faust," Berlioz. HEINRICH SEIDL and ORCHESTRA.
1162. Piano Concerto, C Minor, Saint-Saëns. MR. COURTLANDT PALMER.
1173. "Impressions d'Italie," First time in America, Charpentier.
118 a. Sérénade. c. A Mules. e. Napoli.
119 b. A la Fontaine. d. Sur les Cimes. one of two readings
120 b. Au Fontaine. d. Sur les Cimes. one of two readings
121 Hager Soprano and ORCHESTRA. one of two readings
122 HANS SCHAAR, and ORCHESTRA. one of two readings
1234. Piano Solos. a. Waldersauch, d. I. Valse, . . . Chopin.
124 b. Romance sans Paroles, d. Etude, . . . Chopin.
125 Saint-Saëns. e. Polonaise, E Major, Liszt.
126 MR. COURTLANDT PALMER.
1275. Overture, "The Bartered Bride," Smetana. HEINRICH SEIDL and ORCHESTRA.
129Second Orchestral Concert, Thursday Afternoon, March 8,
130Commencing at 3 o'clock. Programme will be duly announced.
131Under the direction of Miss ELISABETH MARRURY. Mr. S. Goodfriend, Business Manager. Seats on sale at Wm. A. Pond & Co., 25 Union Square; E. Schubert & Co., 23 Union Square; C. H. Ditson & Co., 807 Broadway; Tyso's and all the leading hotels. one of two readings
132Under the direction of Miss ELISABETH MARRURY. Mr. S. Goodfrield, Business Manager. Seats on sale at Wm. A. Pond & Co., 25 Union Square; E. Schubert & Co., 23 Union Square; C. H. Ditson & Co., 807 Broadway; Tyso's and all the leading hotels. one of two readings
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