Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-10
THE MUSIC WORLD.
Formal Installation of Emmanuel
Church's Surpliced Singers.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE CHOIR.
Bishop Whitehead's Advice to Congregation
and Choir.
THE SUPERIORITY OF FEMALE VOICES

For one who has long and loudly lament
ed the too common failure on the part of the
churches to realize the rightful place of
music in public worship, it was exceedingly
gratifying to witness the manner in which
the new surpliced choir of Emmanuel Epis-
copal Church, Allegheny, was formally in
stalled last Tuesday evening.
The service was held solely for the induction
OF the choir according to rubrics seldom, II
ever before, carried into practice hereabouts.
The choir marched in silently to the front
pews; after the opening prayers, Bishop White
head made an appropriate address, at the close
of which the choristers advanced to the altar
and the Bishop, assisted by Mr.. Byllesby, the
rector, placed a prayer-book and hymnal in the
hands of each, repeating formula of
induction similar to those of baptism and con-
frmation. Thus authorized, the choir entered
the stalls and sounded their first note of praise,
Gregorian chant, after which the service
closed with the usual prayers and occasional
hymn. What little the % boys and men sang
reflected credit upon the training of Mr.. Won
Weller, the new organist and choir master, who
has had very brief time for preparatory work.
After the large congregation was dismissed,
the clergy, choir and organist were photo
graphed in various positions and feasted with
various viands..
The entire occasion was calculated to en-
phasiZe the Importance of the musical element
in the church service. Bishop Whitehead
dwelt upon the place of music as an integral
part OF public worship, laying stress upon what
he termed the priesthood of the choir as the
official leaders of the peoples praises. Just as
the clergy are of the peoples prayers. Such
doctrines, by the way. are to be commended to
If the congregation sing along, but who
mistrust every note sung by the choir alone as
savoring of the secular concert room; they do
not feel thus while the single voice of the min
lister is offering the prayers of the congrega-
tion. The white surplices the Bishop regarded
as fifty symbolizing this priestly character,
while keeping unbroken theline of the church's
praises from the snowy-clad singers of Solo
mons temple to the whte-robed chorus of the
redeemed. He also gave some excellent prac-
tical advice to both choir and congregation
upon their several and reciprocal duties in this
connection.
There was only one trouble about the oc-
casion Just described. including the Bishops
otherwise SO admirable address. Everything
was applied exclusively to surpliced choirs,
and surpliced choirs are usually composed ex-
clusively of boys and men.
Was not Miriam inspired to sing the song of
deliverance for her people? Are there to be
no white-robed women in the heavenly chorus?
Did not the women help to lead the praises of
the early church, until medieval monasticism
decreed that they & were,not mt ito to marry Clergy
worship? See the depths to which this
abhorrent idea led the old Romish Church in
the method OF making up the deficiency in the
iciency that two or three years ago caused
Pope Leo. 1t is credibly stated, to restore
woman to her place in the Papal choir.
But there are reasons other than historical
and more clearly within the scope of this de.
partment, for objecting to the boy choirs that
have become SO fashionable in the Episcopal
churches of this city The female voice is
universally recognized as producing the most
beautiful of all musical tones; the variety of
quality and the greater expressiveness of
female voices is indispensable to the proper
music, sacred as well as secular. For
solo singing it is a most extraordinary
boys voice that can be compared
to voices that are by no means uncommon
Furthermore, the formation and training of
boy-choir really capable of singing the
nobler specimens of the very limited
department. of composition at all proper
for it requires an amount of money.
skill, experience and labor that our churches
are very far from devotlng to that purpose
ours develop the needed material properly to
start and maintain such choir without work.
ing and waiting some years.
The best boy choir has but limited field for
its own: such boy choirs as we have in Pitts
burg have indeed straight and narrow path
to walk in. One Sunday after another come
the same old plain chants, the same old
simple hymns; anthems of the easiest de-
scription, If any at all, are but few
and far between, often imperfectly sung and
repeated dd nGusedm. Commonly the entire
SerVlce, possibly excepting the nymnS, Is sung
in unlson-nothing sung but the air or melody.
If four-part harmony be attempted, the altos
are almost invariably overpowered and the
harmony is only tripartite after all.
If the boy choir were not, above all, fashion
able; if it were not sanctioned by Anglican
traditions, sweetened by the presence of little
ones, clad in vestments and made imposing by
theatric marching and counter-marching-if
in short, it depended merely upon its ability to
sing sacred music, no cultured congregation IN
Pittsburg would tolerate its present boy choir
longer than single quarter.
On the other hand: If the former quartet
or chorus choir had been given, above all.
extraordinary sympathy and encouragement
from clergy and congregation; if as much
money had been spent on it, as much skill,
labor and experience brought into its existence,
as much liberation and forbearance manifested
toward tiff. in short, the quartet or
chorus had been treated as the boy-choir now
is, the result would have been vastly better
music, larger congregations and much
greater amount of satisfaction all around.