Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-10-29
From P4,sari's Monthly.
Why she Prase jubilee Was a Musical
Failure.
BY JEROME HOPKINS.

The sagaci0us Fuller somewhere remarks.
q. il hath been observed that six-fJot men.
like unto six-story houses, are apt to have
but little in their cock-lofts. was re-
minded Of this quaint quotation while wit
Messing Mr.. Zerrahn, the conductor nj the
the Boston Coliseum. during bis
frantic but vain enjeaYors % make the
ch1ralists and orchestra keep together.
Frantic his efforts appeared, and vain they
most assuredly were.
The gentleman had a white piece of tim
her. made in the fashion of b. weaver
beam something shorter than a flagstaff
and a trile thinner than man 5 leg. This
formidable weapon the six-foot conductor
(rather uoR-conductor) gyrated with terrible
energy and yigor. Sometimes he described
in the air Hebrew characters, sometimes
Greek. At times We thought limitations Of
the Syriac and Chinese were disccrniblc,
and then, again, architectual delineati1ns
were suggested, like the gable ends Of
houses. etc But all were like hierogiv-
phics, in worse than Egyptian darkness,
The to thou sands Of henighted. he
dizensd, be-dazed, frightened, bewlderai.
timid and uncertain, undrilled and unprac-
ticed singers by whom he was surrounded
The conductor, finding that the utmost
perspiration-inducin- exertions with his
stuck failed to produce the desired result
while be remained at the front Of the stage,
ever and anon betook himself TO exercising
with his legs as well as with his arms and
body. hoping, doubtless, thereby to pro
duce some effect upon the st0lid and ob-ti-
nate performers. To this end he walked with
(Heine'-) seven league - strides 10 the
back of the stage (beating time all the
whilej, and hence the eulogy passed upon
him by a Boston quill-driyer, namely
IS That when lir. Terrain conducted he
walked among the orchestra 10 point ont
eq-i nlssrd rofc 10 orviu1irid,,al deIagucHt'-'
o. these B1stonians WAS this eulogy
penned by the same critic who, a short time
ago, called Schubert - the composer Of broken
croctery music, | wonder p
But to proceed. When Mr. Zerrahn had
gotten to the back of the stage, where the
orchestra couldn't see him, because he WAS
then behind their backs. strange to say, The
entire mass Of performers kept much better
time. Why was this? Simply because Mr..
Sch4iU, leader of the first vioiins, arose as
soon as Mr.. Zerrahn began his march, and
It
with bis fiddle bow. 50 that by the time the
other had arrived at the confines Of the or
cbcstu}l territory there were two conductors
one in front of the instrumentalists and
the other in front of at least one division Of
the choralists Unfortunately, however,
Mr.. Zerrahn wouldn't stay there. lie no
sooner got to the end of his tow-path than
he turned short about and walked back to
the extreme front again, and the moment he
commenced the countermarch just 50 surely
did the chorus recommence to - wabble - rs
badly as before. To such an extent was
this wabbling and unsteadiness carried that
the heavy choruses had to be taken very
slowly and in Handel's" Hallelujah - count
ed sir seconds 10 bar by my watch 1t was
more like dirge than - Hallelujah - by
far.
Mr.. Zerrahn is great conductor. He
has passed through many Howard AssOcia-
ton and Handel and Haydn Society Concert
campaigns unscathed mot 50 with the COM
p0sers interpreted during these campaigns.
hOwever) moreover, he has great reputa-
ton in Boston; hut, like most rOutine-trained
rut-abiding, tradition-venerating men OF his
class, he seemed to have possessed no prac-
teal ideas of his own, and was certainly
quite inadequate to an extra occasion, suct
as this purpOrted to be.
Mr. Eichberg was still worse, for he
stamped with his foot to mark the beats, for
all the world like any Yankee psalm-smiting
choir precentor. lie might as well have
stamped the Rock of Gibraltor, and have
xpected chorus at st. Georges Hall Liver
pool, to keep time thereto.
The gentleman who conducted Weber's
" Jubel Overture " was vet another variety
Of tine genius. His coat-tails were called in
10 requisition Think of it, reader-head.
hair, arms, stick weaver's beam y and
coat-tails all conducting at once, yet without