Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-06-25
GENERAL.
The Great Jubilee.

ADVERSE CRITICISM UPON ITS MUSICAL ExoELLEN-
CIKs-ILIrrIMED, IIIrruNkD, DfBCoRDANT.
The New York Tribune sums up tho result 4
OF the first week Of the great Peace Festival,
thus
In the first place, there is the question, How
large chorus can be got TO sing in reasonably
good time and tune This Mr.. Gilmore has
not answered. His present force il evidently
too great. II began well on the frat day, but
it has not improved during the week, and /
doubt whether il produces greater effect thsn
the chorus OF 1869. Take all the singers who
can be brought under the conductors influence,
all whose voices, supposing them tn utter the
notes simultaneously can be simultaneously
heard, and you get the greatest chorus that can
ever be assembled. Every hundred that You
add to this extreme number only weakens the
effect.
II the useless members sing thew will sing out
OF tune or out of time, and the strength OF a
chorus, Az every musician knows, depends very
largely upon its unanimity crosH-currents OF
disoord destroy not merely its harmony but its
power. II the useless members do not sing,
they do mischief in another way by expanding
the dimensions Of the choir, and 30 pushing itn
really valuable components too far asunder.
The chorus Of 1869 was too big, though 1t was
only little multitude Of ten thousand The
chorus of 1872 is not az large as it pretends to
be, but 1t really does include from 1000 to
1900 singers, and that ii il not reader to go
astray than its predecessor is owing to the fact
that it is composed Of better material. Simple
hymns II has sung very we'll, but no chorus Of
even moderate intricacy has been successful.
The choral effects, In word, have not been
harmonious nor even stupendous.
The fate OF the great drum ought to be a
warming to Gilmore hereafter This illustrious
instrument was built in Maine and il about the
size OF small bedroom. When it was done a
side OF the factory had TO be taken down to per
init its removal. II was sent to Boston on an
ocean steamer, and drawn through the streets in
triumphal procession by four prancing steeds
followed by the acclamation Of the populace. II
had a magnificent tone, but 1t would not keep
time. The vibrations we're 80 long in getting
across that mighty skin that the drum
msr, though never so prompt, seemed al
ways a fraction of a second behind hand
Tho voice was like the voice of thunder
but, also, like thunder, it came some time
after the stroke. or course the other instru
ments would not wait for II, and you know When
| the drum is perpetually trying to catch up with
the fiddles and perpetually never doing it, the re
| suit cannot be described as euphonious. SO th'
| drum was taken away, and hung over the Soutl
| Gallery.
With regard to The orchestra the case is some
/ what different. The number Of instruments has
| baen doubled since 1862 and in some respects
a decided improvement is the consequence. o
| course two thousand. or one thousand, or eyei
seven or eight hundred, are to many for anything
| but the coarest and commonest work; but in thu
| gunpowder music the noise is generally very
| grand and striking, and this part Of the perfor
/ nance, barring tendency to give us too mucl
| Of it, is almost always completely successful.