The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-06-19
REVIEW OF THE FESTIVAL.



The Festival of 1890 is now a thing of
the past, and the Town Hall, the scene
of so much beauty and splendor, whose
walls have echoed with so much har-
mony the last few days, is now silent.
What of this Festival? After all the
glamour, what remains? First, the
artists. Juch is to-day unquestiOnably
the most popular singer who has ever
been engaged for these annual festivals;
and the phenomenal success of this, her
third visit to Rutland, bears abundant
testimony that she is a great artist, for
mere personal popularity would never
endure without those inherent qualities
which stamp her the genuine artist. In
Mile. de We're, Miss Juch discovered the
most formidable rival that she ever had
at Rutland festival, and the writer be-
lieves thai if Mile. de We're were as well
known here as Miss Juch, she would be
equally as popular. Certainly no greater
exponent of the florid styles of vocal
composition ever sang at these festivals
Miss Campbell, the cOntraltO, was as sat
isfactOry an artist as has appeared here
and the same criticism will ap-
ply to Mr.. BabcOck, the bassO. M.
Lawton, the tenor, is an artist, and his
singing gave satisfaction, but to audiences
accustomed to the charm of MockTidge,
or the phenomenal high notes of SignOr
Perotti, he was ON the whole not so
great a favorite as his predecessors,
though undoubtedly as thoroughly an
artist and musician. Wilczek, the viO-
linist, won immediate favor with the
festival audiences, and while his breadth
of tone and style is not so telling a S some
artists who have played here ON former
occasions, he was, nevertheless, as fin
ished performer as ever faced Rut-
land audience.
The Temple Quartette gave pleasure
by their singing, but it is a matter of
| regret that their selections were not of a
| higher order, where the unquestioned
beauty of their voices and their finish
and style in four part singing would have
appeared to better advantage than in the
trivial numbers which they rendered.
| OF the orchestra, nothing can be said
save in terms of the highest praise.
Never before has the orchestra been so
| fine, so evenly balanced and so effective
| in their work rs at this last festival, and
| their playing was sOuce of unallOyed
| delight to every festival attendant
When the difficulties of the high class
of music performed are considered, the
ladies and gentlemen of the chorus GER
| tainly deserve word of special praise
for their labors; and it should not be
forgotten-and undoubtedly they them
selves would cheerfully concede it-that
| much of their success was due to the
painstaking and untiring efforts of Mr..
| MIietZke, who in the chorus rehearsals
| devoted great care and genuine enthusi-
asm to the trying task of preparing such
| high-class works in so short time for
public performance.
| To Mrs. Gale must be accorded praise
| for her thanlIless task of chorus accom-
| panist Her work has been eminently
| satisfactory and conscientious, and it was
n source of much regret from many that
this lady did not preside at the piano
| during the concerts. Mr.. Gage, though
| not in any sense as satisfactory a festival
accompanist as Martha Dana Shepard
who had oflieiated in that capacity on
| former occasions, did his work con-
scientiously, if not brilliantly, and will
be pleasantly remembered. Last, but by
| no means least, is the veteran conductor,
| Carl Zerrahn, whose baton, it is hoped
will sway the choruses and bands of
| America yet many years TO come. A
Rutland festival without him would be
as unsatisfactory as Hamlet with the
melancholy Dane" left out.
To President Temple and his able as
sistants must also be accorded great
praise for the success of the festival, as
| upon them devolved all of those details
which, trivial perhaps in themselves, yet
combined TO secure as near perfection
as was possible. Esthetically considered,
no festival has ever approached this one,
and this, by no means trifling accessory
to its brilliance and success, is almost
wholly due TO the artistic labOrs of Presi-
dent Temple, who gave it his personal
superintendent. All hail these annual
musical feasts? They educate and har-
monize, while they delight the masses
in attendance. May their standard of
excellence become more and more eleva-
ted as the years go on, until the name of
Vermont and her Marble City be re-
corded as being one the greatest musical
centers of this country, as green in the
memories of her former music-loving
sons as her dear old hills; as enduring
rs her pure marbles.-HerdM.