New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-04-21
rIrE MILSLC1L EESTIYdL.

Some indignant person WtlIeS uo w soy ~
importing singers from Boston to 90 LOT us
what we cantor at any rate doht-uo ioi
ourselves il IAN insult to the vocal anu cnoIai
" abilities of Newly ork." If our fnend Is
pianist. he probably thinks it was also an IN
suit for Rubinstein TO come here and play the
n;ono and if he had been a composer about
eighty years ago he would have thought That
Beethoven insulted the whole world when he
took the liberty of coming into it and writing
symphonies. 1t seems to us, on the contrary,
that if the Handel and Haydn Society can
teach us anything, we have every reason to
feel very much obliged to them for coming
here, and to receive them with the cordial and
enthusiastic hospitality which NewYork knows
so well how to display on proper occasions.
We are quite willing to be told that our own
societies could muster as large chorus, ana
sing Elijah" and Israel in Egypt" and the
Ninth Symphony just as well as the Boston
people, if they chose; but then they never
do it, so why should we not listen to those
that doY
Indeed we hope for some permanent results
from this weeks festival, in addition to the
temporary enjoyment promised by its alluring
advertisements. We shall hear the noblest
choral compositions sung by society famous
from one end of the country to the other we
shall have n series of rich orchestral perform
ances by a band in which the whole United
States takes a pride. One or two artists VIII
participate in the festival whose fame compasses
the civilized globe and will long Outlast their
own generation. Finally, Mr. Thomas is to
crown a season of remarkable brilliancy by
producing, on scale entirely new to THIS city,
the greatest musical composition OF all ages.
These things give the coming festival an
importance to which cannon jubllees and
similar monstrOus humbugs cannot pretend.
But. apart from all this, the festival interests.
us in another way:
The art of chorus singing in New-YOrk,
except with a few small clubs like the
Vocal Society and MendelSsohn Glee Club,
and tho German singing societies who cultl-
vate limited and peculiar field, has not pros
pered for many years. The Church Music
Association is trying to do something. A new
society is about starting with similar objects.
Now here come four or five hundred ladies
and gentlemen from Boston to show us what
can be done. They are not professional mu-
sicians. They are composed of the same sort
Mepdelssohu Union. They represent all classes
of society-ladies from Beacon-st., merchants
from State-st., shop girls, young lawyers,
clerks, mechanics. Their opportunities Tor
study and practice are no better than ours
vet we believe that most of our cOnnoisseurs
will be amazed when they find how far the
Boston singers are in advance of the highest
achievement of any similar organization IN New
York. They will not only teach our societies how
to sing an OratoriO, but they will teach our
audiences how to enjoy one. If the truth must
be told, we listen to the Messiah" once a
wear more from a sense of duty than from any
real qualification in the exercise. We bow be-
fore Mr.. Handel's imposing wig, and get out
of his way whenever we decently can. We go
to sleep in the " Lift up your heads" and wish
the a" Hallelujahn were not so long, and then
we clap our hands and pretend to like it. The
fault is not ours, and it is not HandePs. The
dull interpreters conceal the splendors of the
composer and tax the patience of the listener
beyond human endurance. But try an OratOrio
under happier auspices; let it be sung with
manly vigor, and poetical spirit and the bril-
lancy to which we are accustomed in secular
compositIons; and see how different every
thing will appear.
If Mr.. Carl Zerrahn and the ladies and gen.
! tlemen whom he brings with him succeed in
shaking up some of the dry bones that lie
around here and breathing into them the breath
of life if they show us the immense difference
between the real Handel, and Beethoven, and
Mendelssohn, and the poor limitations of them
now and then sung in our concert rooms if
they convince our people how fresh and beau
tiful and truly attractive the neglected ora
torio writers can be made,-the festival will
have done q most valuable work, and Mr..
Thomas will have earned fresh claim to our
gratitude.
The recent litigation which resulted in Messrs.