The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-04
SABLE SONGSTRRS.
Singing Slave Hymns to
Kings.
The Jubilee Singers before
the Courts of Europe.
Correspondence of Inter-ocean.

Professor Samuel Ives Curtis, of the
Chicago Theological Seminary, was in
Leipzig when the Jubilee Singers, who APP
pear at the Central Music Hall this week,
were giving their concerts at Europe, and
he furnishes the following translation of
an article by DR.. Gregory in the Leipzig
Iage6tatt, with reference to them:
1.-The first concert of the freedmen in
England was one to which invitations
were given by the Earl of Shaftesbury
They were then summoned by the Duke
of Argyle to give private concert in his
house. They went joyfully and were
Heartily received They were also sur
lprised by the appearance of the Queen
of England. The Queen came, she heard
like ALL she was carried away by
the impression, and did not neglect to ex-
Ipress her applause and her thanks. The
lway through England, attended with invi-
tations from nObilities, took on the charac-
ter OF real triumph. Perhaps one of the
grandest evening was the one which they
spent in the house and at the table of
THE PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND,
MIR. Gladstone, when the ladies of the
| Queens ladies of honor received them as
| their friends
| In regard to Scotland suffice it to say
| that the Officials of the two chief cities
interested themselves personally for them
/ The first concert in each of these cities
was under the patronage of the Lord Pro
vost, and in Edinburgh they went from
the concert to a dinner given in their honor
at the palace of the Lord Provost himself
| They were afraid, however, of the CONT
nent. The language would not be under
| stood. The patronage would be uncertain.
| But a rich Dutchman heard the singers in
London. The object and the songs seized
his heart; he invited them to Holland and
assumed the responsibility of all their prep
arations. Everything went to perfection.
One of the largest publishers undertook
1 the publication of the singers history for
their benefit, placed his office at the dispo-
sal of the manager, directed the Dutch
correspondence, and journeyed about to
| arrange concerts in other cities.
| His Majesty King William III. had in
yited the singers to his palace, and his sat
| isfaction afterward found expression in
handsome contribution to the erection of
the university buildings. Also the Baron
| Wassenaer de Catwijek invited a company
to his palace on the Hague, and there the
negroes sung before her Majesty the Queen
of the Netherlands, and before the Princes
Henry and Alexander, not to mention
many of the high nobility. The singers
were personally introduced to the Queen
| by the American Ambassador, in or
der that she might express her
delight. On the following Monday her
Majesty and Prince Henry attended the
public concert of the singers.
Enough respecting the English and
Dutch courts. If one seeks the ideal. the
stately ruler whom every child knows
from its earliest years; the noble old man,
who combines gentleness and strength,
he win find him in Berlin. The singers
also had the great honor to see
THE GERMAN EMPEROR.
AS the family of the Crown Prince were
lcompelled to leave Berlin two days before
| the concerts. the Crown Prince invited the
singers on Sunday to the new palace at
| Potsdam. After an exceedingly hearty
reception, the Crown Prince and Princess
entertained themselves with the singers,
and the latter had them tell about her
mother, the Queen of England.
| Then the folding doors wore opened,
the saw in the neighboring hall the En-
iperor the Prince Friedrich Carl, the
Prince Albrecht, the heir of the Prince
of Meiningen, wife his bride, the Princess
Charlotte together with many other
high celebrities The first song was
lplaintive and sad. The noble auditors drew
gently nearer and as the last note sounded
a deep silence reigned. Then the Crown
Prince said:
| ''Das paclkt; das ist uberaus ruhrend und
gent durch and durch." (''That takes hold
that is extremely touching and goes through
and through.)
And the Crown Princess begged that a
second song of the same sort might be
sung. After it was ended, another song
followed.
The Crown Prince asked for the tunes,
and declared that he would keep them, and
intended, if he found time, to learn some
of the songs The correspondent of the
Berlin I'dge6Edtt whose words we have just
cited, relates
A COMICAL INCIDENT.
As the Crown Prince stood near the music
al director of the company, Mr.. White, an
American, who would have made great
sensation in the guards of Frederick VIII
liam l., on account of his almost incredible
height, the Crown Prince, smiling archly
placed himself beside him in order to com
pare the height.
Meanwhile the Emperor questioned Pro-
fessor Cravath, the President of the Uni
versity, particularly about the negroes,
about the school, about the success of the
singers and expressed his satisfaction re-
speeding all that he had heard"
| | publish this translation because / I'M
made capital of the reputation of the Jubi-
lee Singers as to prejudice the public
against the original and only company to
which that name belongs. Having heard
this company sing in Steinway Hall, New
York, ten years ago, and about four years
Iago in the Gewand House and the NicOlai
Church in Leipzig, l am prepared to bear
witness that these singers who appear in
Central Music Hall, on Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday evening of next
week are those whom the crowned heads
and the elite of England, Holland, and
Germany have delighted to honor, not only
on account of the race they represent and
their noble efforts for its education but al
so because of the superlative excellence of
their rendering of those bewitching slave
melodies, which must touch every heart
that is at all susceptible to muscle.
SAMUEL IVES CURTIS.