Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-30

New York Tribune.l
The public has been daily reminded.
for some weeks past, that one of the
best OF the Pinafore companies now
entertaining the town is composed
entirely Of church choir singers. The
windows Of saloons and eigar-shops
are decorated with a duplex litbo-
graphed advertisement of this tune
full band, a sort of diptych, as it were,
on the upper leaf of which the ladies
and gentlemen are singing the divine
praises, with a background of organ
pipes, while on the lower they are dis
porting themselves on the deck of
Captain C%oreoran's ship, singing, we
presume, We're very, very good, and
be 1t understood, he commands a right
good crew" We are now advised
that, on the occasion of the ben
eht OF the prima donna, the
company will add to the attractions of
the burlesque a number Of extracts
from Mozart's Twelfth Mass. sung
after the manner customary in Phila-
delphia churches. Having given our
theatrical audiences a taste of mass in
the Philadelphia style, it will only
remain for the artists to return to
their galleries and favor the churches.
whenever the organist or the minister
takes a benefit, with a selection of
choice airs from the Pinafore. such
as the Bell Trio, or "Damme, it's too
bad"
There is a little incongruity in the
exercises Of these choir performers.
but we do not know that they can be
very severely blamed for confounding
prayer with fun, and praise with
amusement, when so many of the
public, vigorously aided by newspa-
pers, have habitually made the same
blunder. Nor have the churches
themselves kept free from blame.
One has only to read the authorized
announcements of the preparations
for religious festivals to realize that.
so far at all events as the music is con-
cerned, the celebration is but too often
a show, and the actors in it are per
formers, The programmes are fur
nished in advance to the press. with
the full cast of artists. Bills of the
exercises-we were going to say of
the %play-are distributed among the
audience. Chant and hymn, overture
and march, voluntary and interlude
solo, quartet, full chorus. the organ
the brass band, the fiddle, are heard
by turns, as per advertisements, all
arranged with due regard for effec-
tive contrasts. AT the approach
of Easter and Christmas the
Journals abound with preliminary
announcements Of the great musical
attractions in preparation at the
church Of st. Verdi, the aria
that is to be sung by a prima donna
from the Academy of Music, and the
pOt-pOurri Of Italian mass music ar
ranged for the occasion by the distin-
guished Organist and conductor. The
newspapers are privately invited to
puff the performance, and the critics
are requested to say a few good words
for the artists and director. We are
sure to find consequently in some OF
the journals a compliment to the
- superb rendering of the I~ncarnatus
by the eminent soprano, or praise OF
the high chest c. of the costly tenor,
or in admiring comment upon the
popular performer who delights Coney
Island with his eOrnet-playings in the
season, and when not otherwise EN-
ployed hires himself to the church Of
the Holy Banjo. The list of engage
ments for the church choirs is pub
lished annually, like the catalogue Of
the Mapleson and Strakosch compa-
MES and the San Francisco minstrels.
And it is not the fault of the newspa-
pers if the Service of song" is
treated like a theatrical entertainment ;
singers, Organists, directors beg for
such notice, and are disappointed if
they do. not get it.
If church music, therefore, in New
York has become almost a lost art we
have no reason to be astonished. How
can it preserve its religious character,
purity, dignity, decorum, when its
very purpose has been forgotten ?
Once it was a part, and a most impor-
tant part, of the act Of worship. To.
day the choir in a fashionable church
fulflls the same function as the band
in a beer garden it attracts the
crowd; and it naturally advertises