New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-20
THE CINCINNATI FESTIVAL.
SECOND DAY.
BERrHovEN's MIssA soLENNIs--THE AFTERNOON


that musicians, who are here in numbers from Bos-
ton, New-York and other distant places, are often
heard to declare that there has never been any
thing like it in America, and that no better
chorus singing can be heard In the world
That is sweeping assertion but don't believe 1t
goes beyond the truth. / had a talk with several
professional musicians and connoisseurs who were NJ
the Boston festival the other day, and who hearu
the Handel and Haydn Society sing the same an
them of Handles which was done here last night
They all say that the Cincinnati performance was
so immeasuraby superior to the other that tneio
can be no thought of comparing the two.
wish our own Oratorio Society, to whose merit
and service have often paid willing tribute OF
praise could sit here among the audience and earl'
what it is high time for them to know, how much
their stalwart singing falls short OF the ideal stand
ard, There is no particular in which the Cihcinhau
chorus does not far excel them. In this young ana
enthusiastic organization the voices are Hesh,
strong and admirably balanced. The volume OF
tone is immense while its quality is incomparaDy
rich and fine. The purity of intODation IS aOsoute'
and the firmness precision and unanmlty oil attack
arc the wonder of all competent judges With
these fundamental merits the 63O ladies ana gen.
temen unite the last graces of elegant and elect
i've expression never supposed il possible that a
largo chorus could acquire so much Of that soft
blending and graduation of tone which one hears III
the best clee singing and much of the art OIL ac-
cent and phrasinG which one expects ouly III SOLO,
There were three points in the performance last
night where the chorus shone with especial bright
ness The first was the majestic and difficult open
ING number of the Bach cantata, where the voices
rolled along the endless conrapuhtal figures Win
such sturdy assurance and cOmposure. The second
was the unaccompanied choral at the close Oh
the cantata, where the melody is given in its
| =. oh
the harmony of the other parts is pOiyphonlc
The third was in the finale of Handles "Jubilate"
and here the coorng and expression of the conclud-
ing "Amen" were simply delicious. In short the
excellcnces which distinguish ThOmass chorus are
precsely those which distinguish his orchestra; and
if he would do what his friends at homo have been
1gng ever since he resigned the dictatorship OF the
College ofMusic that is, establish a chorus in New
| York. he would make as great a revival IN one
| branch of the art as he made in another when lie
| founded his permanent orchestra.
| The programme for this evening was this:
MiSss ,: SoE gmy sherWim Miss A. L. Cary Mis H. b.
| Norton, Miss Emma Cranch Sig. Campanm,,, i, mr.
| ney. Cnor1s, orchestra, organ.
symphony, No. 4, MINOR. .echuhahH'
Heretofore there has always been little difficulty
about arrangngth elimination of the festival The
"Cboral symphony was the most important work
|
invariably given on the third night. because it is
too fatigung for the performers to be safely post
poned till the end of the week. The result was more
or less unfortunate for the fourth night, when the
| chorus aud orchestra were both fatigued and per-
hans the audience too suffered from the anticlimax
But this wear new plan is tired. The beethoven
Mass takes the place of the Choral Symphony
| and it is sung the second night. Then
| follows an evening devoted to works of n
very different kind, which havo clements Of
| exceptional interest; and finally the Mass VIII 10
repeated on the last night of the Festival under cir
| cumstances which will probably enhance its effect.
The grand 9Th symphony will lead up TO it; the
cborns. whose work on the previous evening will
not have been severe, will be fresh and still under
the influence of to-night's performance; tho audi
epce will be better prepared; and so the climax will
fall at the end where it belongs. The present ar
! ranCement is great help to the singers also. Tho
Mass IS by far the most difficult work undertaken at
| any American Festival. The Choral Symphony
used TO 10 considered the highest possible achicI
ment of on ambitious singing society, and IN Euro
mean cities only a few years ago conductors Of
great rcpute were not ashamed to make changes IN
the melody of the vocal parts for the ac-
| communication of the chorus. But familiar
ty has dispeled its terrors and correct c1ecu-
| ton of the choral movement is much more common
| tion. In the Mlssa SUltnns, however, BcethOyrn's
| demands mon tho singers are heart-brcaIing. The
voices are strained almost to the last limit the inter
vals are often extraordinarily difficult; the changes
| of time rhythm, and key sudden and appar-
| emily eccentric; above all, the meaning OF the
music requires painful study. by comparison with
| il thc Choral Symphony is chid's play. Beethoven
considered it the greatest and most advanced OF his
works lie spent upon it three years of the dark
and awful period of his life-the period OF the
Ninth Symphony begun earlier than the Mass
but flushed later, the last quartets. the last
nianoforte sonatas-works so far beyond the com
prehension of his day that most OF them seemed
to be written for another world. 1t was the time
of his greatest unhappiness. His health was
broken his purse was empty he was lOndcd with
trouble and anxiety; his deafness was almost TO-
| tal: he was wrapped in dark thoughts lie threw
| himself at the feet of God in bitterness Of grief
" Oh hear Ineffable One" lie wrote in bis diary
hear me- thy unhappy, most unhappy of all NOR
talsw But he only knows the powers of light who
has eaten the bread of sorrow. Beethoven rises
sublime out Of affection, and, as recent writer
has said, che passes beyond the horizon OF mere
| singer and poet, ana touches upon Ine u'ilain VI
the seer aud prophet"
perbaps we have no right to wonder that The
works of this third period were long looked upOr
as enigmas. SpOhr, enTaptured with his own smooth
barmonics and polished periods, confesscs in hi
| Autobiography that he cannot relish Beethoven
later works, and finds the themes Of the NIntl
symphony worse than those of all the previous
eight. and the motive of the choral movement
monstrous tasteless and trivial" proof, in short
" that Beethoven was wanting i'll eSthetcal feeling
and in sense of the beautful"l And yet it wal
Spohr who conducted the performance o
the Mass in u during the Beethoven eel
ehration at Bonn in 1545. After this aston
; isbine declaration by an educated musician it il
. not surprising that so many of the great works O
, the third period should have had to wait nearly
half century for artists TO interpret and public
, to enjoy them. The Mass in ID is prob
llv the least understood Of all the series because