Books › Musical Courier 1927-01-13: Vol 94 Iss 2, 1927 › scan 46
Scan 46
Musical Courier 1927-01-13: Vol 94 Iss 2, 1927
43 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1January 13, 1927
2M. H. HANSON TALKS ABOUT AMERICA'S CHORAL SITUATION
4M. H. Hanson is one of America's leading authorities on choral singing from the managerial point of view. He knows because he has had personal experience, some of it pleasant, some quite the opposite. He was asked recently what he thought of possibilities of a choral America. He said: "I look forward to a tremendous development in choral singing in America during the next ten years. I am convinced that when choral singing becomes general the musical taste and understanding of the people will rise to great heights. As in Germany, Austria, Poland, the Scandinavian countries and Czechoslovakia, so will our country face a musical education developed by choral singing and the establishment of municipal operas and symphony orchestras will follow. Many an American town where today some lyceum course or Chautauqua brings all of the musical entertainment and culture the people enjoy will pass to a higher class and will become to some extent self-sustaining through having its own choral society, and the musical insight thus gained will naturally increase the desire of the people for better musical offerings by visiting concert artists. The same applies to the thousand of towns and cities which have a course arranged by the local manager or club.
6"It must be emphasized, however, that a local choral society, and, more especially, a choral society that expects to tour, cannot be sustained without a subsidy. Even in the case of so wonderful a chorus as the Dayton Westminster Choir and its highly talented leader, John Finley Williamson, it must be said that had it not been for the liberal and judiciously granted financial and moral support of one of America's finest women, Mrs. H. E. Talbott of Dayton, it would have been impossible for me to have brought the Dayton Choir to the position it is now occupying. To carry a large choral body over thousands of miles, to pay expenses, management, advertising, printing and so on, is impossible without proper financial backing.
8"The Dayton Choir is about to finish a five weeks' tour which began at Cincinnati and included Oberlin College, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, Albany, Springfield, New York City, Brooklyn, Newark, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, "Longwood" (Mrs. P. S. Du Pont's country seat near Wilmington), Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Roanoke and so on. In January this choir will be heard in Indianapolis, Louisville, Evansville, Terre Haute, Ft. Wayne, and Chicago.
10"In almost every one of the towns where this choir has sung return dates have been demanded for next year. I emphasize this because I want to prove that Americans can be made to realize to how high a level choral singing by just ordinary singers can be developed. Naturally, leaders are wanted and leaders are scarce, but as a consequence of our successful touring a school for choir leaders has been established in Dayton and now we hear of schools for religious music and for choir leaders being established in a number of great universities.
12"My own enthusiasm for choral singing was aroused when I attended high school where we had a chorus under a very wonderful and inspiring master. It was a selected chorus of forty voices and the knowledge I gained during my five years of membership in that chorus has proved extremely valuable to me. I have since established choruses in several parts of the world and my first effort in that field in America was the importation of the Vatican choir under the direction of Mgr. Don Casimiro Casimir. This experience enabled me to launch successfully the choir of St. Olaf's College."
14THE PICK OF THE PUBLICATIONS
16Vocal
18H. T. Fitzsimmons, Chicago
20The Hunter's Horn, a cantata, by Carl Busch.—It is always a pleasure to receive any new work from the pen of the skilled and gifted American composer, Carl Busch. Here is a composer who has the entire technical equipment of the musician at his command, but who never allows his technic to run away with him and never forgets for an instant genuine beauty, color and expressiveness. The Hunter's Horn, which has just been published, is a short cantata for baritone solo, chorus and piano, and two horns ad lib. to heighten the color and effect. They will certainly be a welcome addition. The text is by Bryan Walter Proctor, and the short work occupies only twenty-six octave pages. The writing being especially difficult, is delightfully contrapuntal in parts, and the chorus work throughout is well balanced, effective and impressive. This is a work that one recommends with pleasure.
22White-Smith Music Company, Boston
24Out of the West, a secular cantata, by Earl Towner.—This work is arranged for tenor solo and a chorus of mixed voices with accompaniment for piano. The poetic text is by Clinton Scollard, Harold F. Hughes and James Russell Lowell. There are fifty pages of music. The music is of a very simple, popular order. The tunes are frankly tunes, and there is no subtlety in any part of the work. The entire composition is so simple that it will be within the reach of amateur choruses everywhere.
26C. C. Birchard & Co., Boston
28Twice 55 Community Songs for Men's Voices—The Blue Book.—This is a little collection for male chorus, gotten up in a shape that is easy for singers to hold in their hands. These songs are all familiar and popular and this new publication is a welcome addition to the literature of the glee club.
30The Dragon of Wu Foo, an Operetta in two acts by Charles Repper.—This operetta is for mixed voices, but a footnote says that it may be effectively preformed by girls only, and that a treble-voice arrangement is available for that purpose. The music is perhaps better than the usual run of music that appears in works of this sort. Mr. Repper, without making his score in any way difficult, has succeeded in infusing into it a considerable amount of color and charm, and at times harmonic effects that are very appealing. The tunes are all good, and the writing everywhere vocal and simple. Since Broadway has sold itself to the sport of jazz, it is only in this sort of publication that the old style semi-classic operetta is found.
32Edna Bishop Daniel in Who's Who
34Edna Bishop Daniel has the distinction of being the only vocal teacher listed in Who's Who in the Nation's Capital. The sketch given of this well known mezzo soprano is as follows: "Daniel, Edna Bishop (widow of John Warwick Daniel, Jr.), teacher of singing; b. Wilmington, N. C.; d. Dr. Francis B. Bishop (deceased) and Eleanor (Knowles) Bishop. Ed. public schools and Georgetown Visitation Convent; studied piano five years under Alma Ebert Sterlin; studied voice six years under Harriet H. Mills; later studied voice and repertoire under Jennie Glennan for six years; studied (during past several years) vocal method under William A. C. Zerffi of New York City, and is his authorized representative in the application of his vocal principles in the teaching of singing in D. C. These principles are scientific, built upon the physics, anatomy and physiology of the vocal organ, in their application to voice production, and are called 'Voice Production Without Interference.' In charge of vocal department of Georgetown Visitation Convent from 1913 to 1916. Opened own studio in 1916. Mme. Roman Catholic Ch., The Nativity. Husband's father was the late Hon. John Warwick Daniel, twenty-five years U. S. Senator from Virginia. Is mother of John Warwick Daniel, 3d., Caroline Elizabeth (Mrs. Martin A. Stohlman) and Mary Edna Eleanor Daniel."
36Marie Morrisey Has Many Dates
38After a week during which she had given four concerts in as many states, Marie Morrisey, contralto, with Morton Howard accompanist and assisting soloist, gave a program to enthusiastic applause at the Chicago College Club on December 12. Following a concert for the Civic Music Association of Rock Island (Ill.), on December 16, Miss Morrisey hastened to New York for intensive work with Dudley Buck and Richard Hageman on new songs.
40Roxy Engages Liebling Soloists
42Beatrice Belkin, coloratura soprano, and Celia Branz, contralto, have been engaged as soloists by Roxy for the new Roxy Theater, for one year beginning on February 1. Both are artist-pupils of Estelle Liebling.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.