The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1869-06-29
THE PEACE JUBILEE.
The First Days PerlOrmanCe-.It
is Not a Decided Success.

Luther 5 famous choral, sung by nearly
lo,0oO' voices, with the string orchestra
and organ. 1t was done with great pre-
cision, and seemed to settle the doubt
ful question whether SO large compa-
ny could De brought to sing together,
without producing n mere babel OF noise
The Hymn OF Peace, and My Country
IT'S, of Thee" also went smoothly, and
in general. | may say, that all the slow
music was successful. Bat / cannot
pronounce the experiment of this Jubi-
Ice as altogether satisfactory. Near ths
stage the noise was certainly loud en-
ough, but people at the further end Of
the building, did not find the din quite
as awful as they expected it. TO per.
son sitting in the front row of the bal
cony, opposite the stage, the music was
unexpectedly weak in its effect. Ten
Thousand voices in the Coliseum sound
no more powerful than five hundred
would sound i'll Steinway Hall.
1t is q mistake that the number of sin
gers, beyond certain limit, adds any,
thing to the impression on the audience,
if the space over which thcirvoices have
to spread is too much enlarged Last
year l 900 people sang at the Handel
and Hayden Festival in the Boston Music
Hall, and produced much greater effect
than the 10000 who sang here today.
The Music Hall chorus was not only
better, but actually seemed more mass
i've. Beside, when You have many thou
sands together, especially if they have
rehearsed in squads instead of all at
once, it is impossible to make them sing
delicately SO long as they scream their
loudest. 1t is all right provided they
scream their slowest; but the soft pass
ages are apt to be too soft, and the quick
ones are confused. 1t was predicted
that even if all sung exactly in time the
result would be a failure, because sound
does not travel with sufficient velocity
for the voices to reach the ear ut the
same instant. This has proved to be
true, though not to such 4 troublesome
extent as was feared.
The chorus is packed closely, yet it
covers an area Of about three hundred
feet square-that is to say, the voices
of the rear ranks have three hundred
feet further to travel than the voices of
the front rank, and if both start precise
ly at the same moment, one will come
in q fifth of second after the other
This interval Of time, short as it is, can
be appreciated by the ear, and the least
tagging on the part of the distant sin
gers aggravates the difficulty TO dis
tressing degree. In the quicker move
ments Of the chorus, arranged from Mo
zart's Mass, everything seemed agog.-
In the "Star Spangled Banner" too,
there was frequent confusion In the
chorals, however, no such troubles were
experienced, because. the voices dwell
long enough on each note for everybody
to catch up. There were't two solo per
formances by Madame Parepa Rosa,
namely, Gounods save Maria" and
Rossini's ''Inhammatus. Her pure,
sweet, noble voice came across that vast
space, through the surging of four hun
dred instruments, and above the sound
of ten thousand voices, in the choral
accompaniment, with distinctness at
which maryal and admire. Her soft
est notes were distinctly heard in the
remotest corners, and the effect of such
a beautiful voice coming apparently from
such an immeasurable distance, was just
charming.
The overtures to "Tannhauser" and
William Telr' were played by about
four hundred and fifty musicians. Nei-
ther went well, nor produced as strong
an effect as if played by one hundred
good men in our opera house. The
Coronation March," from the ''Proph-
et," was better, but imperfect, The fea-
lures of the day, however, were the
Anvil Chorus" 'The Star Spangled
Banner" and MY Country, 'Tis of Thee"
accompanied hy every conceivable de-
vice for making noise. For the first
there marched in one hundred firemen
in red shirts and white capes, and placed
themselves, with sledge hammer in hand
by the side of one hundred anvils. The
enthusiasm which this performance
aroused l can scarcely describe. \ typ
ical Bostonian beside me jumped u2 in
his excitement and opened an umbrella
At proper intervals a battery of twelve
pieces of artillery, stationed just outside
the doors, and discharged by electrical
wires, manipulated by member of the
orchestra, lent sonorous voices to the
uproar, and the city bells. rung by sim
liar scientific appliances, warned all the
town Of what was going on.
To be sure, the artillery to us inside
sounded something like the clapping of
cellar doors, and the smoke came pour
ing in, and the bells we did not hear at
all, but it was all very grand and noisy,
and as the roof did not come of, nor
the people near the stage fee in dismav
and deafness, Mr. Gilmore may congrat-
ulate himself upon grand success. 1t
was not very good music, but it was not
meant to be that There were present
to-day about $500 singers, a select
string orchestra of 40, grand orchcs
ira of 900 including the select one, and
an audience of perhaps $4,000 or
$4,000 persons.
IN MUSICAL VIEW, FAILURE.
From the y. Y, Sun Correspondence.
Looked at critically, and from q mu-
sical point of view, it was not by any
means great success There was not
a single piece performed that was not
marrcd by conspicuous blemishcs. The
fact is that the chorus was so vast As to
bc unmanagcable; so was the orchestrs.
There was note worthy lack of precis-
ion and of unity. Ten thoUs and singers
cannot be held together; and yet the cf-
fccts produced were of the most eXcit-
ing nature. Everything was on the most
massive scale the band numbered thou
sand, the chorus ten thousand, and the
audience about fourteen thousand.
The Bank Of England stands in three
parishes, and covers nearly four acres -
The quantity OF gold in its vaults on the
first day of January, 1869, uncoined, was
returned at f6,76o,397 IS. sd. The