Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-22


music.
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The Philharmonic's Half Century.
Anniversaries seem to be the order of the
day. New York has Just celebrated the
semi-centennial of its cherished Phiihar-
monic Society, as has already been noted in
these columns About the same time Mr..
Damrosch, with his orchestra and chorus,
having no anniversary of their own, CON-
memorated the 150th year since the produc-
tion of Handel's messiah"
Last week the Chicago Apollo Club gave
three festival concerts in honor Of its
twentieth anniversary. The clubs chorus
of 500, led by Mr.. William L. Tomlins; Theo-
dore Thomas and his orchestra, increased to
125 players; Miss ClementIne De We're. Mrs.
Amalia Joachim, Mr.. Edward Lloyd, Mr..
William Ludwig and other eminent soloists,
made up the performing force. Haydn's
HandePs "Acis and Galatea," Mendels-
sohn's "Hymn of Praise" and Bach's st.
Matthews Passion music formed the truly
superb series of programmes
. ~-- W.
The Cincinnati Music Festival,
This week the Cincinnati Musical Festi-
walls mark their twentieth year also. A na-
tive of Pittsburg, Mr.. w. L. Blumensch6n
is the chorus-master this year, Mr.. Thomas
being, as usual, the general director.
The chief soloists named above, ex-
cepting Mrs. Joachim, will be
at Cincinnati, besides Mrs Antonia
Mielke and Mr. Andreas Dippel (whom
Pittsburg heard last Year, and Mrs Maria
Ritter-Goetze. There will be seven con-
certs, beginning Tuesday evening and in
cluding matinees on Thursday and Satur-
day. The principal works will be Mendels-
sohn's ''St. Paul." Dyorak's Requiem,
parts 1 and II of Bach's christmas Ora
torio," cantata BY Becker and Bruckner's
TIE Deum. The symphonies will be
Beethoven's Eighth and Brahms Third,
Schumann's First and Tschaikowsky's Fifth.
London's Eighty Year-Old Society.
No less than 80 years of activity are be-
ing celebrated by the London Philharmonic
Society. 1t is thus one of the oldest
orchestral societies in the world, for it is Is
years the senior of the famous Societe des
Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris, and in
deed, except as to the Gewandhaus Con-
certs, Leipsic, which date from Sebastian
Bach's time, it is probably the senior
orchestral society of Europe. The Philhar-
monte was founded in 1918 by certain En-
glish professional musicians, who speedily
gathered round them a large number of
orchestral players, these gentlemen agreeing
at any rate at the outset to give their serv-
ices gratuitously. Thus the society was,
in its early days, able to devote consider
able sums to the production of new works
It was they who gave the first hearing in
London to some of Beethoven's most popular
symphonies, including the Eroica and the
q minor, and it was expressly for
them that the great Choral Symphony
No. 9 was written by Beethoven,
who was paid for it the not altogether ex-
travagant sum of $3.50. From time to time
among the society's conductors either for
the season or for occasions have been Spohr,
Weber, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Gounod,
Costa, Sant-Saens and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
A few days ago the society was threatened
with dissolution owing to the fact that its
resources were exhausted, but it was
rescued by Sir Arthur Sullivan and large
body of music-lovers, who organized a
guarantee fund, and since then it has again
been fourishing.